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)
- The Connection and Development of Unpredictability and Sensitivity in Maternal Care Across Early Childhood (2022)
- Frontiers in Psychology
- The role of alexithymia and perceived stress in mental health responses to COVID-19: A conditional process model (2022)
- Journal of Affective Disorders
- 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
- Unpredictable maternal sensory signals in caregiving behavior are associated with child effortful control (2022)
- PLoS ONE
- Varhaisten kielellisten taitojen ja temperamentin suhde vanhemman raportoimaan lapsen änkytykseen FinnBrain-syntymäkohortissa (2022)
- Puheen ja kielen tutkimuksen yhdistyksen julkaisuja
- Associations between maternal socioeconomic, psychosocial and seasonal factors, infant characteristics and human milk cortisol concentrations (2021)
- American Journal of Human Biology
- A systematic review of MRI studies of language development from birth to 2 years of age (2021)
- Developmental Neurobiology
- Children's diurnal cortisol output and temperament in two different childcare settings at 2 and 3.5 years of age (2021)
- Developmental Psychobiology
- DCC Gene network in the prefrontal cortex is associated with total brain volume in childhood (2021)
- Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience
- Early development of negative and positive affect: Implications for ADHD symptomatology across three birth cohorts (2021)
- Development and Psychopathology



