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Loisa Bennetto, Ph.D.

Contact Information

Phone Numbers

Office: (585) 275-8712

Research Labs

Faculty Appointments

Biography

Research

Professor Bennetto's research interests focus on the neurocognitive bases of autism and other developmental disorders. Her recent work examines the role of multisensory processing in social-communication difficulties and in everyday behaviors, including restricted food preferences.

My program of research is broadly directed at examining the neurocognitive bases of developmental disabilities, with the ultimate goal of understanding how atypical neurocognitive development relates to deficits in social-communication difficulties as well as everyday difficulties with adaptive functioning. My lab focuses primarily on understanding autism spectrum disorders, but we have also been working to understand other developmental disorders such as Down syndrome, as well as normal developmental processes.

Our recent work examines the role of multisensory processing in several domains, including social communication and feeding. Some of our current projects in the domain of social communication in autism examine audiovisual speech perception, hearing-in-noise perception (including both speech-in-noise and music-in-noise), speech-and-gesture production and comprehension, and the role of atypical sensorimotor function in facial expressiveness. Our research on feeding investigates the role of multisensory processing in the development of restrictive food preferences (picky eating) in children with autism. We are interested in understanding the relative roles of sensory functions (including taste and olfaction), behavioral factors (e.g., restricted behavior style, neophobia), and family preferences on eating behaviors.

Credentials

Education

1988
BA | Yale University
Psychology

1999
PhD | University of Denver
Clinical Psychology

Clinical Trials

The Development of Personal Choice in Adolescents with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder

Lead Researcher: Loisa Bennetto

In this online study, a parent and their adolescent will independently complete brief surveys. The adolescent will complete their survey first, and it may take up to 15 minutes. Afterwards, the parent will complete their survey, which may take up to 20 minutes. We hope this research will lead to expanding resources that support autonomy and independence as adolescents transition into adulthood.

View Study Details

Publications

Journal Articles

2/6/2023
Eigsti IM, Bennetto L. "Grammaticality judgments in autism: Deviance or delay - CORRIGENDUM." Journal of child language.. 2023 Feb 6; :1. Epub 2023 Feb 06.

9/1/2021
Park WJ, Schauder KB, Kwon OS, Bennetto L, Tadin D. "Atypical visual motion prediction abilities in autism spectrum disorder." Clinical psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.. 2021 Sep 1; 9(5):944-960. Epub 2021 Apr 13.

1/8/2021
Cubit LS, Canale R, Handsman R, Kidd C, Bennetto L. "Visual Attention Preference for Intermediate Predictability in Young Children." Child development.. 2021 Jan 8; Epub 2021 Jan 08.

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