Dr. Linda Mayes

Biography

Linda Mayes is the Arnold Gesell Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics, and Psychology at the Yale Child Study Center. She received her M.D. from Vanderbilt University in 1977. Her research focuses on information processing and attentional processes in infants, particularly examining the effects of prenatal cocaine exposure on the development of attentional regulatory capacities. She employs visual habituation procedures to study infants ages 3 to 6 months and investigates how maternal cocaine abuse impacts both the infant's development and the parent's capacity to interact with their child. Mayes's work emphasizes the multifaceted influence of cocaine abuse on development, which can affect fetal brain development, maternal health, parenting behaviors, and can be exacerbated by parental psychopathology such as depression and attention deficit disorder. Her research contributes to understanding biological and environmental interactions in the context of prenatal cocaine exposure.

Research Interests