Linda Mayes

My research examines information processing and attentional processes in infants. Employing visual habituation procedures between 3 and 6 months and older, I am studying the effects of prenatal cocaine exposure on the development of attentional regulatory capacities. Additionally, our research program in the behavioral teratology of cocaine is studying the effects of maternal cocaine abuse on an adult’s capacity to parent a child and the contribution of maternal interactions to the child’s attentional capacities. Cocaine abuse influences infant development on potentially multiple levels including (1) effects on fetal brain development, (2) effects on maternal health during pregnancy and placental function, (3) the effects of cocaine use on specific parenting behaviors and more general effects mediated through increased violence, multiple foster placements, homelessness, and repeated family disruption, and (4) parental psychopathology or neuropsychiatric disorders that predate cocaine abuse (e.g., depression, attention deficit disorder) which carries both interactive and genetic risks for the child. These different levels of effect also highlight prenatal cocaine exposure as an appropriate model for studying biologic-environment interactions.