Saara Nolvi
Ph.D (FT), adjunct professor (dos.)
FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study saara.nolvi@utu.fi Kiinamyllynkatu 10 Turku : Med A307/Pub 318 Contact requests by e-mail. |
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. I am the principal investigator in the Academy-funded PROSODE project where we explore parental social protective experiences and how they are linked to child self-regulation and brain development. Additionally, I am senior researcher in the PeCCaPS study, where the focus is in family functioning after the child has received diagnosis for pediatric cancer, and family members are being tested for their genetic predispositions for cancer.
My research focuses on early life environmental effects on child self-regulation development and the neural and other biological mechanisms underlying these associations. Particularly, I am interested in the buffering or promotive environmental factors, such as caregiving, parental presence, positive life events, or social support expriences. 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)
- An opportunity to increase collaborative science in fetal, infant, and toddler neuroimaging (2022)
- Biological Psychiatry
- Associations between temperament dimensions and dental anxiety in parents of the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study (2022)
- European Journal of Oral Sciences
- Early pathways of maternal mentalization: Associations with child development in the FinnBrain birth cohort study (2022)
- Frontiers in Psychology
- Feasibility of FreeSurfer Processing for T1-Weighted Brain Images of 5-Year-Olds: Semiautomated Protocol of FinnBrain Neuroimaging Lab (2022)
- Frontiers in Neuroscience
- Infant fecal microbiota composition and attention to emotional faces (2022)
- Emotion
- 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
- Oxytocin receptor genotype moderates the association between maternal prenatal stress and infant early self-regulation (2022)
- Psychoneuroendocrinology
- Prenatal Stress and the Developing Brain: Postnatal Environments Promoting Resilience (2022)
- Biological Psychiatry
- Subcortical and hippocampal brain segmentation in 5-year-old children: Validation of FSL-FIRST and FreeSurfer against manual segmentation (2022)
- European Journal of Neuroscience
- The behavioral immune system and vaccination intentions during the coronavirus pandemic (2022)
- Personality and Individual Differences



