Minna Lehtonen
PhD, Professor
minna.h.lehtonen@utu.fi ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6137-8854 |
Psycholinguistics; Cognitive Neuroscience; Psychology of Language; Multilingualism; Bilingualism; Executive Functions; Morphological Processing
I started as a Professor at University of Turku in August 2020. Before this, I worked as a professor and associate professor at University of Oslo. I hold a Title of Docent at University of Helsinki.
My research focuses on the neurocognitive basis of processing and learning of language, with an emphasis on bilingualism/multilingualism. I am interested in possible neurocognitive and linguistic consequences of bilingualism as well as the relationship between executive functions and language. We are utilizing a range of brain imaging and behavioural experimental techniques, as well as surveys and meta-analytic methods. We are also developing and using digital tools such as mobile applications and games to study the learning of Finnish and other Nordic languages (see, e.g., the NordForsk-funded TEFLON project: https://teflon.aalto.fi/). In these projects, our study participants include, for example, bilingual and multilingual adults and children, learners of Finnish, and persons with aphasia.
I teach
psycholinguistics and bilingualism and am currently in charge of bachelor’s and master’s
thesis seminars. I also supervise BA,
MA, and PhD students.
- Statistical models of morphology predict eye-tracking measures during visual word recognition (2019)
- Memory and Cognition
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - The Relationship of Anxiety and Stress With Working Memory Performance in a Large Non-depressed Sample (2019)
- Frontiers in Psychology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Video gaming and working memory: A large-scale cross-sectional correlative study (2019)
- Computers in Human Behavior
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Working memory updating training modulates a cascade of event-related potentials depending on task load (2019)
- Neurobiology of Learning and Memory
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - A facilitatory effect of rich stem allomorphy but not inflectional productivity on single-word recognition (2018)
- Applied Psycholinguistics
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Beyond volume: A surface-based approach to bilingualism-induced grey matter changes (2018)
- Neuropsychologia
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Bilingualism and working memory performance (2018)
- PLoS ONE
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Cognitive consequences of bilingualism (2018)
- Language, cognition and neuroscience
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Information properties of morphologically complex words modulate brain activity during word reading (2018)
- Human Brain Mapping
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Is Bilingualism Associated With Enhanced Executive Functioning in Adults? A Meta-Analytic Review (2018)
- Psychological Bulletin
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal)



