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.
- Neural signatures for active maintenance and interference during working memory updating (2018)
- Biological Psychology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - No Effects of Stimulating the Left Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex with tDCS on Verbal Working Memory Updating (2018)
- Frontiers in NeurosciencePersonality and Individual Differences
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - (2018)
- Bilingualism: Language and CognitionNeuropsychologia
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - The role of general executive functions in receptive language switching and monitoring (2018)
- Bilingualism: Language and Cognition
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - TMS uncovers details about sub-regional language-specific processing networks in early bilinguals (2018)
- NeuroImage
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Using Statistical Models of Morphology in the Search for Optimal Units of Representation in the Human Mental Lexicon (2018)
- Cognitive Science
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Working memory and the Big Five (2018)
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Bilingualism modulates the white matter structure of language-related pathways (2017)
- NeuroImage
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Language control mechanisms differ for native languages: neuromagnetic evidence from trilingual language switching. (2017)
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Relationship between language switching experience and executive functions in bilinguals: an Internet-based study (2017)
- Journal of Cognitive Psychology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal)



