Saara Nolvi
Ph.D (FT), adjunct professor (dos.)
FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study saara.nolvi@utu.fi Kiinamyllynkatu 10 Turku Office: Med A307/Pub 318 Contact requests by e-mail. ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4959-1473(external) |
prenatal stress; early life stress; postnatal stress; anxiety; temperament; fear reactivity; executive functioning; socioemotional development; cognitive development; structural equation modelling; milk cortisol; brain structure; amygdala; MRI; fMRI, DTI
Centre of Excellence for Learning Dynamics and Intervention (InterLearn); Department of Psychology and Speech-Language Pathology; the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study.
Pronouns: she/hers
I am adjunct professor (developmental psychology) and psychologist by background. I currently work as senior researcher in the Academy-funded Centrel of Excellence for Learning Dynamics and Intervention (InterLearn) in the Department of Psychology and Speech-Languge Pathology. In addition, I work as a senior in the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study.
My research focuses on early life environmental effects on child self-regulation development and the neural and other biological mechanisms underlying these associations. I am also interested in the inter-individual differences in sensitivity to stress and environment, and how these differences in plasticity are shaped by the environment across development. In the InterLearn study, we are specifically interested in the longitudinal development of self-regulation and its relation to child mental health and academic functioning. We also aim to identify environmental factors that may buffer from or exacerbate the risk for academic and emotional difficulties.
Teacher education (60 ects); experience from teaching and lecturing from all age groups and educational levels
Taught courses currently:
PSYK3933 Developmental psychology I
PSYK4323 Master's thesis (Psychology)
- Maternal Perinatal Stress Trajectories and Negative Affect and Amygdala Development in Offspring (2023)
- American Journal of Psychiatry
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index is associated with newborn offspring hypothalamic mean diffusivity: a prospective dual-cohort study (2023)
- BMC Medicine
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Mother–infant interaction and maternal postnatal psychological distress are associated with negative emotional reactivity among infants and toddlers— A FinnBrain Birth Cohort study (2023)
- Infant Behavior and Development
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Polygenic risk for neuroticism is associated with externalizing symptoms in 2-year-old boys (2023)
- Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Spillover effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on attitudes to influenza and childhood vaccines (2023)
- BMC Public Health
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Structural brain correlates of non-verbal cognitive ability in 5-year-old children: Findings from the FinnBrain birth cohort study (2023)
- Human Brain Mapping
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Trajectories of COVID-19 pandemic-related depressive symptoms and potential predictors: the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study (2023)
- Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - An opportunity to increase collaborative science in fetal, infant, and toddler neuroimaging (2022)
- Biological Psychiatry
(B1 Non-refereed article in a scientific journal) - Associations between temperament dimensions and dental anxiety in parents of the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study (2022)
- European Journal of Oral Sciences
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Early pathways of maternal mentalization: Associations with child development in the FinnBrain birth cohort study (2022)
- Frontiers in Psychology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Feasibility of FreeSurfer Processing for T1-Weighted Brain Images of 5-Year-Olds: Semiautomated Protocol of FinnBrain Neuroimaging Lab (2022)
- Frontiers in Neuroscience
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Infant fecal microbiota composition and attention to emotional faces (2022)
- Emotion
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Maternal sensitivity at the age of 8 months associates with local connectivity of the medial prefrontal cortex in children at 5 years of age (2022)
- Frontiers in Neuroscience
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Oxytocin receptor genotype moderates the association between maternal prenatal stress and infant early self-regulation (2022)
- Psychoneuroendocrinology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Prenatal Stress and the Developing Brain: Postnatal Environments Promoting Resilience (2022)
- Biological Psychiatry
(A2 Refereed review article in a scientific journal ) - Subcortical and hippocampal brain segmentation in 5-year-old children: Validation of FSL-FIRST and FreeSurfer against manual segmentation (2022)
- European Journal of Neuroscience
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - The behavioral immune system and vaccination intentions during the coronavirus pandemic (2022)
- Personality and Individual Differences
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - The Connection and Development of Unpredictability and Sensitivity in Maternal Care Across Early Childhood (2022)
- Frontiers in Psychology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - The role of alexithymia and perceived stress in mental health responses to COVID-19: A conditional process model (2022)
- Journal of Affective Disorders
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - The Stability of Early Developing Attentional Bias for Faces and Fear From 8 to 30 and 60 Months in the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study (2022)
- Developmental Psychology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal)