Elena Tenenbaum | Scholars@Duke

Elena Tenenbaum
Assistant Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Dr. Tenenbaum is a psychologist and researcher who specializes in language acquisition and cognitive development. Her research and clinical interests focus on communication between children and their caregivers in the context of atypical development.

Dr. Tenenbaum uses eye tracking and other behavioral measures to study typical and atypical trajectories of social attention and language learning. Her work has focused on relations between social attention and word learning, communicative capacity in minimally verbal children with autism, and audio-visual synchrony processing in children with autism. Dr. Tenenbaum has also worked on questions of infant mental health and perinatal depression as it relates to language and cognitive development.

Dr. Tenenbaum completed her PhD in Psychology at Brown University in the Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences. She then respecialized in Clinical Psychology at Suffolk University and completed her internship and postdoctoral training at the Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University.

Dr. Tenenbaum joined the Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development in September of 2018.

Current Appointments & Affiliations

Assistant Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Psychiatry, Child & Family Mental Health & Community Psychiatry, Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences 2021
Faculty Network Member of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, University Institutes and Centers 2018

Contact Information

2424 Erwin Rd., Suite 501, Durham, NC 27705
DUMC 2737, Durham, NC 27710
elena.tenenbaum@duke.edu (919) 668-2943

Background
Education, Training, & Certifications
- Ph.D., Brown University 2011
Previous Appointments & Affiliations
- Assistant Professor - IV in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Psychiatry, Child & Family Mental Health & Community Psychiatry, Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences 2019 - 2020
- Clinical Associate in theDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Psychiatry, Child & Family Mental Health & Community Psychiatry, Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences 2018 - 2019
Research
Selected Grants
- Quantitative and remote methods to study early cognitive development and heterogeneity in ASD awarded by Simons Foundation 2021 - 2023
- Meeting on Language in Autism awarded by National Council on Severe Autism 2022 - 2023
- Meeting on Language in Autism awarded by Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative 2022 - 2023
- Marcus Foundation Phase II MSC ASD awarded by The Marcus Foundation 2019 - 2022
External Relationships
- MapLight Therapeutics
Publications & Artistic Works
Selected Publications
- Academic Articles
  - Naples, A., Tenenbaum, E. J., Jones, R. N., Righi, G., Sheinkopf, S. J., & Eigsti, I.-M. (2022). Exploring communicative competence in autistic children who are minimally verbal: The Low Verbal Investigatory Survey for Autism (LVIS). Autism, 13623613221136656. https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613221136657
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  - Major, S., Isaev, D., Grapel, J., Calnan, T., Tenenbaum, E., Carpenter, K., … Dawson, G. (2022). Shorter average look durations to dynamic social stimuli are associated with higher levels of autism symptoms in young autistic children. Autism, 26(6), 1451–1459. https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613211056427
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  - Mitsven, S. G., Prince, E. B., Messinger, D. S., Tenenbaum, E. J., Sheinkopf, S. J., Tronick, E. Z., … Lester, B. M. (2022). Testing the mid-range model: Attachment in a high risk sample. Dev Sci, 25(3), e13185. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13185
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  - Tenenbaum, E. J., Major, S., Carpenter, K. L. H., Howard, J., Murias, M., & Dawson, G. (2021). Distance from Typical Scan Path When Viewing Complex Stimuli in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and its Association with Behavior. J Autism Dev Disord, 51(10), 3492–3505. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04812-w
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  - Tenenbaum, E. J., Carpenter, K. L. H., Sabatos-DeVito, M., Hashemi, J., Vermeer, S., Sapiro, G., & Dawson, G. (2020). A Six-Minute Measure of Vocalizations in Toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Autism Res, 13(8), 1373–1382. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.2293
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  - English, M. S., Tenenbaum, E. J., Levine, T. P., Lester, B. M., & Sheinkopf, S. J. (2019). Perception of Cry Characteristics in 1-Month-Old Infants Later Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 49(3), 834–844. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-3788-2
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  - Righi, G., Tenenbaum, E. J., McCormick, C., Blossom, M., Amso, D., & Sheinkopf, S. J. (2018). Sensitivity to audio-visual synchrony and its relation to language abilities in children with and without ASD. Autism Research, 11(4), 645–653. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.1918
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  - Sheinkopf, S. J., Tenenbaum, E. J., Messinger, D. S., Miller-Loncar, C. L., Tronick, E., Lagasse, L. L., … Lester, B. M. (2017). Maternal and infant affect at 4 months predicts performance and verbal IQ at 4 and 7 years in a diverse population. Developmental Science, 20(5), e12479–e12479. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12479
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  - Tenenbaum, E. J., Amso, D., Righi, G., & Sheinkopf, S. J. (2017). Attempting to “Increase Intake from the Input”: Attention and Word Learning in Children with Autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 47(6), 1791–1805. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3098-0
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  - Salley, B., Sheinkopf, S. J., Neal-Beevers, A. R., Tenenbaum, E. J., Miller-Loncar, C. L., Tronick, E., … Lester, B. M. (2016). Infants’ early visual attention and social engagement as developmental precursors to joint attention. Developmental Psychology, 52(11), 1721–1731. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000205
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  - TENENBAUM, E. J., SOBEL, D. M., SHEINKOPF, S. J., MALLE, B. F., & MORGAN, J. L. (2015). Attention to the mouth and gaze following in infancy predict language development. Journal of Child Language, 42(6), 1173–1190. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0305000914000725
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  - Tenenbaum, E. J., Amso, D., Abar, B., & Sheinkopf, S. J. (2014). Attention and word learning in autistic, language delayed and typically developing children. Frontiers in Psychology, 5. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00490
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  - Amso, D., Haas, S., Tenenbaum, E., Markant, J., & Sheinkopf, S. J. (2014). Bottom-Up Attention Orienting in Young Children with Autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 44(3), 664–673. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-013-1925-5
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  - Tenenbaum, E. J., Shah, R. J., Sobel, D. M., Malle, B. F., & Morgan, J. L. (2013). Increased Focus on the Mouth Among Infants in the First Year of Life: A Longitudinal Eye-Tracking Study. Infancy, 18(4), 534–553. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-7078.2012.00135.x
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  - Tenenbaum, E., & Morgan, J. (2007). Racing to segment? Top-down versus bottom-up in infant word recognition. Proceedings of the 31st Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, 620–631.
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- Conference Papers
  - Leahy, C., Major, S. T., Howard, J., Carpenter, K., Tenenbaum, E., Franz, L., … Dawson, G. (2022). 3.43 More Severe Executive Function Impairments Are Associated With Increases in Frontal Theta and Decreases in Beta and Gamma EEG Power in Young Children With ASD. In Journal of the American Academy of Child &Amp; Adolescent Psychiatry (Vol. 61, pp. S241–S242). Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2022.09.322
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Education, Training, & Certifications

Previous Appointments & Affiliations

Selected Grants

External Relationships

Selected Publications

Academic Articles

Conference Papers