Teaching areas
Coaching and Sport Psychology, Leadership (at present with a focus on leadership in schools), Cross-cultural Psychology, Organizational Psychology, Political Psychology and Neuropsychology. Some of these courses are, of have been, taught as distance courses and as joint projects with universities abroad.

Research interests and research

General theme

Effects of an active life style and enriched environments on brain development, cognitive decline and dementia

Key words

Social networks, Life Style, Enriched Environments, Physical Exercise, Dementia, Cognitive Decline, BDNF, NGF, APOE, Neural Networks, Brain Reserve, Culture.

Issues in focus

An active life style has been found to “protect” against cognitive decline and dementia later in life as well as being generally beneficial for health and longevity. The roles of social relations, friendship and social status have been less studied than other factors, such as education and mentally challenging activities. If a socially active life has similar effects, are they due to the cognitive challenges of close relations, such as adaptations, compromises and discussions to resolve common issues? Or are there other, unique, contributions of social factors implying different pathways of beneficial neural consequences?

Regarding proposed positive effects of physical exercise, can they be attributed to keeping the vascular system in good shape to maintain efficient blood supply to the brain and other vital parts of the system? Or is there a cognitive dimension in sports and physical activity, which would make the mechanisms parallel to those behind the effects of cognitive and intellectual stimulation?

Establishing definite causal relations for these factors is impossible in human studies, even if longitudinal designs make them more probable. To disentangle the causal mechanisms, including gene-environment interaction behind dementia and cognitive decline, animal studies with genetically modified groups provide a useful complement to human studies.

Work in progress

Two studies on a population sample from Finland (2000 subjects) where data exist from midlife and for 1450 of them also 20 years later.

In two studies the effects of marital status (married, single, divorced and widowed, is related to the incidence of dementia after 70. In another, the effect of the quality of a partner relation on dementia risk is being studied. Other aspects of interest are how the effects of close friends relations interact with the effect of marital status. A follow up is under way, which will enable intraindividual calculations of cognitive decline rate, rather than incidence of dementia, related to precedent social conditions.

Another main study is being planned on groups of genetically modified mice to model genetic factors known to increase the risk of dementia and cognitive decline in humans. In this study the interactions between genetic factors, especially those of immunological relevance, and environmental factors, especially social ones, will be in focus. Outcome variables of interest are effects on neural networks, BDNF levlels and dementia.

References

Håkansson K, Rovio S, Helkala E-L, et al. Association between mid-life marital status and cognitive function in later life: population based cohort study. BMJ. July 2, 2009; 339 (jul02_2): b2462 -.