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Elise Masur Elise Frank Masur, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology

Phone: (815)753-7081
(815) 753-8088
efmasur@niu.edu
Office: PM 367

EDUCATION

Ph.D.: Child Psychology, Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, 1976
Illinois State Certification in School Psychology, 1990

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Acquisition and development of cognitive, language, and communication skills in infants and preschool-aged children within the context of parent-child interaction; social and cognitive prerequisites for language acquisition; mother-child interaction; mother-child imitation; school psychology.

FREQUENTLY TAUGHT CLASSES

  • PSYC 675, Developmental Psychology of Language Acquisition
  • PSYC 653, School Psychology First Year Practicum
  • PSYC 639, Professional School Psychology
  • PSYC 465, Advanced Developmental Psychology
  • PSYC 464, Developmental Psychology Laboratory
  • PSYC 424, Adolescent Development

REPRESENTATIVE RECENT PUBLICATIONS

  • Olson, J., & Masur, E. F. (in press). Infants' gestural forms and communicative contexts influence mothers' provision of object, action, and mental state labels.  Journal of Child Language.
  • Masur, E. F., & Olson, J. (2008). Mothers’ and infants’ responses to their partners’ spontaneous action and vocal/verbal imitation. Infant Behavior and Development, 31, 704-715. 
  • Masur, E. F., & Flynn, V. (2008). Infant and mother-infant play and the presence of the television. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 29, 76-83.
  • Flynn, V., & Masur, E. F. (2007). Characteristics of maternal verbal style: Responsiveness and directiveness in two natural contexts. Journal of Child Language, 34, 519-543.
  • Masur, E. F. (2006). Vocal and action imitation by infants and toddlers during dyadic interactions: Development, causes, and consequences. In S. J. Rogers and J. Williams (Eds.), Imitation and the development of the social mind: Lessons from typical development and autism. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
  • Masur, E. F., Flynn, V., & Eichorst, D. (2005). Maternal responsive and directive behaviours and utterances as predictors of children’s lexical development. Journal of Child Language, 32, 63-91.
  • Masur, E. F., Flynn, V., & Eichorst, D. L. (2004). Maternal verbal and behavioral responsiveness and directiveness as predictors of infants’ lexical development. Journal of Child Language, 31, 1-29.
  • Masur, E. F., & Eichorst, D. L. (2002). Infants’ spontaneous imitation of novel vs. familiar words: Relations to observational and maternal report measures of their lexicons. Merrill- Palmer Quarterly, 48, 405-426.

REPRESENTATIVE GRANTS

  • 2006-2009 National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Research Grant (#HD51607), "Infants’ and Mothers ’ Responses to Being Imitated"
  • 2003 Northern Illinois University Summer Research and Artistry Grant, "Promoting Maternal Imitation: Influences on Children's Imitation and Language Development"
  • 1999-2002 National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Research Grant (#HD37587), "Mothers' and Infants' Imitation: Causes and Consequences"