Ilkka Salo

Effects of supplementation with n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids on cognitive performance and cardiometabolic risk markers in healthy 51 to 72 years old subjects: a randomized controlled cross-over study

BackgroundHigher plasma n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) have been associated with a lower risk of age related cognitive decline, and to beneficially affect cardiometabolic risk factors. A relation exists between metabolic disorders such as diabetes type 2 and cognitive decline. Results regarding the potential effects of n-3 PUFA on risk factors in healthy subjects are divergent, and studies regarding the possible relation between cardiometabolic parameters and cognitive performance are scarce. The objective was to evaluate the effects of five weeks intake of long chain n-3 PUFA on cognitive performance in healthy individuals, and to exploit the possible relation between outcomes in cognitive tests to cardiometabolic risk parameters.MethodsFish oil n-3 PUFA (3g daily) were consumed during 5weeks separated by a 5 week washout period in a cross-over placebo controlled study, including 40 healthy middle aged to elderly subjects. Cognitive performance was determined by tests measuring working memory (WM) and selective attention.ResultsSupplementation with n-3 PUFA resulted in better performance in the WM-test compared with placebo (p < 0.05). In contrast to placebo, n-3 PUFA lowered plasma triacylglycerides (P < 0.05) and systolic blood pressure (p < 0.0001). Systolic blood pressure (p < 0.05), f-glucose (p = 0.05), and s-TNF-α (p = 0.05), were inversely related to the performance in cognitive tests.ConclusionsIntake of n-3 PUFA improved cognitive performance in healthy subjects after five weeks compared with placebo. In addition, inverse relations were obtained between cardiometabolic risk factors and cognitive performance, indicating a potential of dietary prevention strategies to delay onset of metabolic disorders and associated cognitive decline.

Latency and mode of error detection in a process industry

Abstract Licensee event reports (LERs) from an industry provide important information feedback about safety to the industry itself, the regulators and to the public. LERs from four nuclear power reactors were analyzed to find out about detection times, mode of detection and qualitative differences in reports from different reactors. The reliability of the codings was satisfactory and measured as the covariance between the ratings from two independent judges. The results showed differences in detection time across the reactors. On the average about 10% of the errors remained undetected for 100 weeks or more, but the great majority of errors were detected soon after their first appearance in the plant. On the average 40% of the errors were detected in regular tests and 40% through alarms. Operators found about 16% of the errors through noticing something abnormal in the plant. The remaining errors were detected in other ways. There were qualitative differences between the LERs from the different reactors reflecting the different conditions in the plants. The number of reports differed by a magnitude 1:2 between the different plants. However, a greater number of LERs can indicate both higher safety standards (e.g. a greater willingness to report all possible events to be able to learn from them) and lower safety standards (e.g. reporting as few events as possible to make a good impression). It was pointed out that LERs are indispensable in order to maintain safety of an industry and that the differences between plants found in the analyses of this study indicate how error reports can be used to initiate further investigations for improved safety.

Effects of speed limit variation on judged mean speed of a trip

Three experiments were set up to study how drivers estimate mean travel speeds on trips with different speed limits. To specify, participants judged mean speeds of trips with speed limits on different distances of the trip. Study 1 showed that the mean speed on a road with a temporary 30 km/h speed limit was overestimated if the speeds were greater than 80 km/h on the rest of the trip. Study 2 replicated and extended the results to problems with more speed combinations. In Study 3 the distances of the speed limits were varied and the results showed that a temporary 30 km/h speed restriction gave overestimations of the mean speeds of a trip for all combinations of original and temporary speed limits over all distances. Finally, some psychological issues and applied implications for speed regulation policies were discussed.

Constructive Psychological Processes Before and after a Real-Life Decision

Creativity seems to be something that many of us think we understand, but understand in different ways. Barron and Harrington (1981) describe how definitions of creativity vary according to different attributes, such as, elegance, beauty of the product, nature of impact, achievement and personal ability. The word ‘create’ means that something that was not there before is made to appear. The matter used in a creative process can be anything from clay to non-conscious thoughts. In the present chapter we use creativity as a characterization of how a decision maker structures and processes information in a decision problem. The invention of new decision problems, new alternatives, restructuring of alternatives can, to some degree, serve as indicators of creative decision making. The generation of goals or objectives in a given situation, can also reflect a decision maker’s creativity (c.f., Keeney, 1992).

Mental causal models of incidents communicated in licensee event reports in a process industry

The present investigation describes some mental causal models used in incident reports. Some of the models (e.g., single-cause models) are simpler than others (e.g., causal-tree models). The models are also associated with different ways of explaining an incident or accident and with different recommendations for increasing the safety of a system. In study 1, incident reports from Swedish nuclear power plants known to use human or organisational factors were analysed. The analysis showed that the most frequent model was a simple single-cause model. Two-step models and more complex models were less frequent. Study 2 analysed all licensee event reports (including those reports not related to human organisational factors) from four reactors assessed by regulators during the year. The results showed that single-cause and two-step accident models were more frequent than more complex models. The analyses also revealed that different detection modes were related to different models.

Effects of a mixed berry beverage on cognitive functions and cardiometabolic risk markers; A randomized cross-over study in healthy older adults

Background Berries and associated bioactive compounds, e.g. polyphenols and dietary fibre (DF), may have beneficial implications with respect to the metabolic syndrome, including also cognitive functions. The aim of this study was to evaluate effects on cognitive functions and cardiometabolic risk markers of 5 wk intervention with a mixture of berries, in healthy humans. Methods Forty healthy subjects between 50–70 years old were provided a berry beverage based on a mixture of berries (150g blueberries, 50g blackcurrant, 50g elderberry, 50g lingonberries, 50g strawberry, and 100g tomatoes) or a control beverage, daily during 5 weeks in a randomized crossover design. The control beverage (water based) was matched with respect to monosaccharides, pH, and volume. Cognitive tests included tests of working memory capacity, selective attention, and psychomotor reaction time. Cardiometabolic test variables investigated were blood pressure, fasting blood concentrations of glucose, insulin, blood lipids, inflammatory markers, and markers of oxidative stress. Results The daily amounts of total polyphenols and DF from the berry beverage were 795 mg and 11g, respectively. There were no polyphenols or DF in the control beverage. The berry intervention reduced total- and LDL cholesterol compared to baseline (both P<0.05), and in comparison to the control beverage (P<0.005 and P<0.01, respectively). The control beverage increased glucose concentrations (P<0.01) and tended to increase insulin concentrations (P = 0.064) from base line, and increased insulin concentrations in comparison to the berry beverage (P<0.05). Subjects performed better in the working memory test after the berry beverage compared to after the control beverage (P<0.05). No significant effects on the other test variables were observed. Conclusions The improvements in cardiometabolic risk markers and cognitive performance after the berry beverage suggest preventive potential of berries with respect to type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and associated cognitive decline. Possibly the polyphenols and DF contributed to the beneficial effects. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01562392.

Memories of real-life decisions

Three studies investigated decision makers’ memory representations of choice alternatives in most important real-life decisions. In Study 1, each participant recalled the most important decision that she or he had ever made and rated to what degree a number of characteristics could describe the decisions. In Study 2, the participants were asked to think about an important decision that they had made during the last 7–10 days. In Study 3, the memory representations of decisions of a group of action-oriented participants were compared with those of a group of state-oriented participants (Kuhl, 1983). Characteristics related to standard decision theory, like consequences, values, and likelihood, had high ratings of applicability as well as affect/feeling. When testing the applicability of a circumplex model, the fuzzy-trace theory of memory, and differences between state- and action-oriented decision makers, we found (1) that there was no support for the circumplex model of emotions. Instead, an important decision problem was characterised by both positive and negative affect/emotion and thus, a bipolar mapping was found inadequate; (2) that a comparison of abstract and concrete aspects showed that the abstract characteristics scored higher, thereby supporting the fuzzy-trace theory; and (3) that the prediction that action-oriented participants would score higher than state-oriented participants on the characteristic of activity was not supported. However, state-oriented decision makers rated passivity higher than action-oriented decision makers for the important decision of leaving a partner. State-oriented decision makers used perceptual/cognitive scenario representations to a greater extent than action-oriented participants. Finally, it was stressed that in the development of decision theories it is essential to find theoretical representations as close as possible to how decision makers themselves represent the decisions. The method used in this contribution is focused on the role of memory in decision making and gives further insights into how important real-life decisions are represented by different decision makers.

Organizational stressors and burnout in public librarians

We investigated the relationship between organizational factors and three dimensions of burnout in a sample of 53 Swedish public librarians. We also qualitatively identified specific library-related stressors based on the organizational factors investigated. The results showed that the organizational factors workload and community predicted higher levels of emotional exhaustion while the organizational factors community and values predicted higher levels of cynicism. Beyond that we also found that the most frequent stressors reported by the participants were overload of working tasks, technostress, patrons, management feedback problems and isolation. It is suggested that structural interventions to deal with burnout among librarians can be managed by both changing the work-organization and training the employees in stress-management strategies.

Decision-Making Context and Stress: Administrative Officers and Investigators in Three Swedish Public Authorities

This study analyzed how employees’ experience of stress and sleep quality are affected by aspects of the external decision-making context (work planning, clarity of goal formulations, available time, and dependence on other people) and an internal factor (judgmental self-doubt). The participants were administrative officers and investigators at three Swedish public authorities (N = 472): The National Tax Board, the Social Insurance Agency, and a county Police Authority. The results showed that the internal factor judgmental self-doubt was a slightly better predictor for perceived stress and sleep problems compared to the external decision-making context. Only minor differences between the organizations were found. These results are important to consider for human resource managers in the context of employee training and work planning.

Conceptions of Decision Quality and Effectiveness in Decision Processes According to Administrative Officers and Investigators Making Decisions for Others in Three Swedish Public Authorities

This study investigated conceptions of decision quality and efficiency held by administrative officers from three Swedish public authorities (the Tax Board, the Social Insurance Agency, and the Police Authority) with respect to decisions made for other people. Research on conceptions of decision quality held by decision makers making decisions for themselves shows that decision outcome is emphasized. In contrast, the participants emphasized aspects relating to the communication step in the decision process as relevant for decision quality. This relates to the accountability aspect of decision making. Differences among the three organizations indicate the importance of domain-specific aspects.