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 |
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)
- Newborn white matter microstructure moderates the association between maternal postpartum depressive symptoms and infant negative reactivity (2020)
- Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Temperament is associated with the use of communicative gestures in infancy (2020)
- Infant and Child Development
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - The longitudinal associations between temperament and sleep during the first year of life (2020)
- Infant Behavior and Development
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - The role of TPH2 variant rs4570625 in shaping infant attention to social signals (2020)
- Infant Behavior and Development
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Across continents and demographics, unpredictable maternal signals are associated with children's cognitive function (2019)
- EBioMedicine
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Gut microbiota composition is associated with temperament traits in infants (2019)
- Brain, Behavior, and Immunity
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - How maternal pre- and postnatal symptoms of depression and anxiety affect early mother-infant interaction? (2019)
- Journal of Affective Disorders
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Maternal Pre- and Postnatal Anxiety Symptoms and Infant Attention Disengagement from Emotional Faces (2019)
- Journal of Affective Disorders
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Trajectories of maternal pre- and postnatal anxiety and depressive symptoms and infant fear: Moderation by infant sex (2019)
- Journal of Affective Disorders
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Human milk cortisol concentration predicts experimentally induced infant fear reactivity: moderation by infant sex (2018)
- Developmental Science
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Infant Sex Moderates the Effects of Maternal Pre- and Postnatal Stress on Executive Functioning at 8 Months of Age (2018)
- Infancy
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - The courses of maternal and paternal depressive and anxiety symptoms during the prenatal period in the FinnBrain Birth Cohort study (2018)
- PLoS ONE
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - The Relations Between Maternal Prenatal Anxiety or Stress and Child’s Early Negative Reactivity or Self-Regulation: A Systematic Review (2017)
- Child Psychiatry and Human Development
(A2 Refereed review article in a scientific journal ) - The Role of Early Life Stress in Shaping Infant Fear Reactivity and Executive Functioning : Findings from the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study (2017) Nolvi Saara
(G5 Article dissertation ) - Maternal postnatal psychiatric symptoms and infant temperament affect early mother-infant bonding (2016)
- Infant Behavior and Development
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Maternal prenatal stress and infant emotional reactivity six months postpartum (2016)
- Journal of Affective Disorders
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Maternal alexithymic traits, prenatal stress, and infant temperament (2015)
- Infant Behavior and Development
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal)