Mayada Elsabbagh

Research interests

My research focuses on understanding the brain basis of behavioral genetic disorders, and how these develop into characteristic symptoms in childhood and adulthood. I do this through the use of converging methodologies to study brain and behavioural development combined with a number of clinical research assessment tools. At the CBCD, I am currently involved in multi-centre research project focused on understanding early markers for autism through the study of infant siblings of children with autism (PI: Mark Johnson). I also act as the coordinator for the collaborative research network, the British Autism Study of Infant Siblings (BASIS). More generally I am also very interested in the application of scientific research in evidence-based clinical and educational practice, particularly in the area of early screening and intervention.

Previous research and Education

1999-2005 Ph.D. Psychology, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada
Thesis: Auditory Perceptual Organization in Williams Syndrome

with Henri Cohen & Annette Karmiloff-Smith
Université du Québec à Montréal & Institute of Child Health, University College London

2003-05 Cross-domain longitudinal study of infant cognition and its relation to social interaction
with Annette Karmiloff-Smith, Institute of Child Health, University College London
Collaborators: Scania de Schonen, CNRS, Paris V; Gisa Aschersleben, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Munich

2002-03 Affective Development in children with Williams and Asperger Syndromes
with Judy Reilly, Cognitive Development Laboratory, San Diego State University

1994-98 B.Sc. Psychology, Mcgill University, Montreal, Canada

Students

Caroline Tabron, M.Sc. Cognitive Neuropsychology (completed)
Thesis: Is local processing bias related to attentional disengagement in autism?

Elizabeth Knight, M.Sc. Cognitive Neuropsychology (co-supervised by Dr. Atsushi Senju)
Thesis: Contingency learning in autism

Publications

Holmboe, K., Elsabbagh, M., Volein, A., Tucker, L. A., Baron-Cohen, S., Bolton, P., Charman, T., Johnson, M. H. (in press). Frontal cortex functioning in the infant broader autism phenotype. Infant Behaviour & Development.

Karmiloff-Smith, A. Aschersleben, G. de Schonen, S. Elsabbagh, M. Hohenberger, A. & Serres, J. (in press) Constraints on the timing of infant cognitive change: Domain-specific or domain-general? European Journal of Developmental Science.

Elsabbagh, M., Cohen, H., Cohen, M., Rosen, S. & Karmiloff-Smith, A. (accepted with minor revisions). Severity of Hyperacusis predicts individual differences in speech perception in Williams Syndrome. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research.

Elsabbagh, M., Cohen, H., & Karmiloff-Smith, A. (in press). Discovering structure in auditory input: Evidence from Williams Syndrome. American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.

Elsabbagh, M. & Johnson, M.H. (2010). Getting answers from babies about autism. Trends in Cognitive Science, 14, 81-87.

Gliga, T., Elsabbagh, M., Andravizou, A. & Johnson, M. (2009). Faces attract infants' attention in complex displays. Infancy, 14, 550-562.

Elsabbagh, M., Volein, A., Holmboe, K., Tucker, L., Csibra, G., Baron‐Cohen, S., Bolton, P., Charman, T., Baird, G., & Johnson, M. (2009). Neural correlates of eye gaze processing in the infant broader autism phenotype. Biological Psychiatry, 65:31–38.

Elsabbagh, M., Volein, A., Tucker, L., Holmboe, K., Csibra, G., Baron‐Cohen, S., Bolton, P., Charman, T., Baird, G., & Johnson, M. (2009). Visual orienting in the early broader autism phenotype: disengagement and facilitation. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 50, 637–642.

Elsabbagh, M. & Johnson, M. (2007). Infancy and autism: Progress, prospects, and challenge. Progress in Brain Research, 164, 355-382.

Elsabbagh, M. (2008). A la recherche des signes précoces de l’autisme (French language: In search of the early signs of autism). Médecine & enfance, June 2008.

Elsabbagh, M., Cohen, H., & Karmiloff-Smith, A. (2008). Auditory Perception in Williams Syndrome: From basic building blocks to higher level perceptual organization. CRL Technical Report, University of California, San Diego.

Elsabbagh, M. (2008). Language and Communication in Williams Syndrome. In: H. Whithaker & B. Stemmer (Eds.). Handbook of the Neuroscience of Language. Elsevier, pp. 367-375.

Elsabbagh, M., Cohen, H., Cohen, M., Rosen, S., & Karmiloff-Smith, A. (2006). The building blocks of auditory perception in Williams syndrome, Brain and Cognition, 60, p. 308.

Elsabbagh, M., & Karmiloff-Smith, A. (2006). Modularity of mind and language. In: K. Brown (Ed.), The Encyclopaedia of Language and Linguistics, Elsevier, UK.pp.218-224

Scerif, G., Karmiloff-Smith, A., Campos, R., Elsabbagh, M., Driver, J. & Cornish, K. (2005). To look or not to look? Typical and atypical development of oculomotor control. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 4, 591-604.

Cohen, H., Douaire, J., & Elsabbagh, M. (2001). The role of prosody in discourse processing. Brain and Cognition, 46, 73-82.

Selected talks and conference presentations

Elsabbagh, M. (2008, Nov). Getting answers from babies about autism. Autism Neuroscience Conference, Royal Society of Science, London.

Elsabbagh, M., Sanefuji, W., & Senju, A. (2008, Aug). Gaze Behavior in Autism: Bridging Experimental Approaches and Intervention. Symposium at the World Association of Infant Menral Health, Yokohama, Japan.

Elsabbagh, M. (2008, July). Babies in the making: Why and when should we intervene (The case of infants at-risk for autism). Euroscience Forum, Barcelona, Spain.

Wan, M.W., Green, J., Elsabbagh, M., & Johnson, M. (2008, May). Mother‐Infant Interactions in High‐Risk Infant Siblings of Children with Autism. International Meeting for Autism Research, London, UK.

Garwood, H., Gliga, T., Elsabbagh, M., Volein, A., Tucker, L., Baron‐Cohen, S., Bolton, P., Charman, T., Baird, G., & Johnson, M. (2008, May). Orienting to social and non‐social stimuli in the early broader autism phenotype. International Meeting for Autism Research, London, UK.

Elsabbagh, M. (2008, April). Attention is needed: Developmental relations between visual attention and social skills in infants at‐risk for autism. British Psychological Society Conference, Dublin, Ireland.

Elsabbagh, M. (2008, March). Babies at risk for autism: Preliminary results and on-going work. Mental Health Research Network Conference, Royal College of physicians, London.

Elsabbagh, M., Volein, A., Holmboe, K., Tucker, L., Csibra, G., Baron-Cohen, S., Bolton, P., Charman, T., Baird, G., & Johnson, M. (2007, May). Neural correlates of eye-gaze processing in the early autism phenotype. International Meeting for Autism Research, Seattle, USA. Selected for the press book

Elsabbagh, M. (2006, June). Narrowing perceptual sensitivity to the native language in infancy: Environmental influence on developmental timing. International Conference on Infant Studies, Kyoto, Japan. Received the Early Career Award

Elsabbagh, M. (2006, May). Linking Auditory perception and Language: Preliminary insights from Williams Syndrome. Invited Seminar, CNRS, Université Paris V, France.

Elsabbagh, M. (2006, May). Genes, brains, and development: New horizons in the study of developmental disorders. Asian Brain-Based Learning Conference, Kula Lumpur, Malaysia

Elsabbagh, M., Cohen, H., Rosen, S., Cohen, M. & Karmiloff-Smith, A. (2006, April).The Effects of Noise on Speech Perception in Williams Syndrome. Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference, San Francisco, USA.

Elsabbagh, M., Rosset, E., de Schonen, S., Hohenberger, A., Aschersleben, G., & Karmiloff-Smith, A. (2005, May). Domain-specific versus domain-general changes in infant speech processing, face processing and their interpretation of goal-directed action. American Psychological Society Conference, Los Angeles, USA.

Elsabbagh, M., Cohen, H., Rosen, S., Cohen, M. & Karmiloff-Smith, A. (2005, April). Building blocks of auditory perception in Williams Syndrome. Cognitive neuroscience Society Conference, New York, USA.

Elsabbagh, M., Van Herwegen, J., Campos, R. & Karmiloff-Smith, A. (2005, March). Perception of native and non-native language contrasts in relation to mother-child interaction. British Psychological Society Convention, Manchester, UK.

Elsabbagh, M., Reilly, J., & Bellugi, U. (2004). Facial expression and comprehension in Williams Syndrome. Poster presented at the Gatlinburg Conference on Mental Retardation, San Diego, USA. Received the Zeaman Award

Some recent activities

2007(Sept) Attended a reception hosted by the Prime Minister’s wife at 10 Downing Street in honor of the charity Autism Speaks
2007(May) Attended a reception of the all-Party Parliamentary Group on Autism at the House of Commons
2007 (Feb) Invited guest on BBC Radio Arabic, BBC-Extra series on autism
2006(Nov) Attended the Royal Society Media Training Course as an Autism Speaks Fellow
2006(May) Invited talk for the public at the Asian Brain Based Learning Conference, Kula Lumpur, Malaysia

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