Carolyn B Mervis, PhD

Education

Ph.D. (1976) Cornell University

Research Interests

• Language and cognitive development of typically developing children and children with Williams syndrome, 7q11.23 duplication syndrome, and Down syndrome
• Genotype-phenotype relations in Williams syndrome and 7q11.23 duplication syndrome

Selected Recent Publications

• Mervis, C. B., & John, A. E. (2010). Cognitive and behavioral characteristics of children with Williams syndrome: Implications for intervention approaches. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part C, 154C, 229-248.
• John, A. E., & Mervis, C. B. (2010). Comprehension of the communicative intent behind pointing and gazing gestures by young children with Williams syndrome or Down syndrome. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 53, 950-960.
• Edgin, J. O., Pennington, B. F., & Mervis, C. B. (2010). Neurospychological components of intellectual disability: the contributions of immediate, working, and associative memory. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 54, 406-417.
• Mervis, C. B. (2009). Language and literacy development of children with Williams syndrome. Topics in Language Disorders, 29, 149-169.
• Leyfer, O., Woodruff-Borden, J., & Mervis, C. B. (2009). Anxiety disorders in children with Williams syndrome, their mothers, and their siblings: implications for the etiology of anxiety disorders. Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders, 1, 4-`4.
• John, A. E., Rowe, M. L., & Mervis, C. B. (2009). Referential communication skills of children with Williams syndrome: Understanding when messages are not adequate. American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 114, 85-99.
• Mervis, C. B., & John, A. E. (2008). Vocabulary abilities of children with Williams syndrome: Strengths, weaknesses, and relation to visuospatial construction ability. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 51, 967-982.
• Mervis, C. B., & Becerra, A. M. (2007). Language and communicative development in Williams syndrome. Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews, 13, 3-15.
• Mervis, C. B., & Morris, C. A. (2007). Williams syndrome. In M. M. M. Mazzocco & J. L. Ross (Eds.), Neurogenetic developmental disorders: Variation of manifestation in childhood (pp. 199-262). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
• Osborne, L. R., & Mervis, C. B. (2007). Rearrangements of the Williams-Beuren syndrome locus: molecular basis and implications for speech and language development. Expert Reviews in Molecular Medicine, 9 (15), 1-16.
• Meyer-Lindenberg, A., Mervis, C. B., & Berman, K. F. (2006). Neural mechanisms in Williams syndrome: a unique window to genetic influences on cognition and behavior. Nature Reviews: Neuroscience, 7, 380-393.
• Somerville, M. J.*, Mervis, C. B.*, Young, E. J., Seo, E.-J., del Campo, M., Bamforth, S., Peregrine, E., Lilley, M., Pérez-Jurado, L., Morris, C. A., Scherer, S. W., & Osborne, L. R. (2005). Severe expressive language delay related to duplication of the Williams-Beuren locus. New England Journal of Medicine, 353, 1694-1701. (*: equal contributions)
• Mervis, C. B., & Robinson, B. F. (2005). Designing measures for profiling and genotype/phenotype studies of individuals with genetic syndromes or developmental language disorders. Applied Psycholinguistics, 26, 41-64.

Courses Often Taught

• PSYC609: Developmental Disabilities
• PSYC609: Developmental Assessment
• PSYC609: Developmental Psycholinguistics