Benasich's work has centered on the study of the early neural processes necessary for normal cognitive and language development and the impact of disordered processing in high risk or neurologically impaired infants. At NYU, Benasich and Marc Bornstein studied the relationship of infant behaviors such as attention, habituation and memory to later cognitive and linguistic activity.[4] In her postdoctoral work at Johns Hopkins, she served on the Research Steering Committee for the Infant Health and Development Program, a large national randomized clinical trial of an early intervention program for low birth weight, premature infants.[5]