Speaker: Natalie Brito, Ph.D.- Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Psychology at New York University (NYU) and Director of the Infant Studies of Language & Neurocognitive Development (ISLAND) Lab.

About the talk: Research consistently demonstrates that the first two years of life are sensitive periods during which warm, predictable, and responsive caregiving are important to children’s social, emotional, and cognitive development. Caregivers impact the developing infant’s ability to flexibly adapt to the demands of the environment, and the caregiver’s own stress physiology is a critical factor influencing caregiving behavior and subsequent child development. This talk will examine how maternal perinatal experiences may contribute to early differences in infant neurocognitive outcomes, examining both proximal interactions and more distal social policies. Understanding the wider effects of the sociocultural context on development can potentially help to disentangle the many pathways through which adaptations to the environment impact brain and behavior.

Learning Objective 1: Identify mechanisms underlying associations between indices of maternal stress and infant brain function.

Learning Objective 2: Discuss the impact of COVID-19 pandemic related stressors for pregnant and postpartum women.

Learning Objective 3:  Assess benefits of paid maternal leave for infant brain and behavioral development. 

About the Speaker: Dr. Natalie Brito is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Psychology at New York University (NYU) and is the Director of the Infant Studies of Language & Neurocognitive Development (ISLAND) Lab. Dr. Brito earned her PhD in Psychology with a concentration in Human Development and Public Policy from Georgetown University. She then spent two years as a Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholar at Columbia University and two years as a postdoctoral research fellow in the Division of Developmental Neuroscience at Columbia University Medical Center. Dr. Brito’s research explores how social and cultural contexts shape the trajectory of brain and behavioral development, with the goal of better understanding how to best support caregivers and create environments that foster healthy child development.

The Center for Children and Families (CCF) has been approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The CCF maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) accepts CE credit provided by APA providers towards ANCC re-certification.

This talk has also been approved for up to 1 CEU credit by Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling; Florida Board of Psychology and Florida Office of School Psychology.  

Provider # BAP 50-12872.