Lack of interaction between concurrent caffeine and mobile phone exposure on visual target detection: an ERP study.

Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior · 2014 · No effect · Moderate evidence

← Research stream

No effectModerate evidencePaper 4678

Study snapshot

PublicationPharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior · 2014

Study typerandomized_trial

Reported directionNo effect

Evidence ratingModerate

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Caffeine affects information processing by acting predominantly on cortical activation, arousal and attention. Millions consume caffeine and simultaneously use their mobile phone (MP) during everyday activities. However, it is not known whether and how MP-emitted electromagnetic fields (EMFs) can modulate known psychoactive effects of caffeine. Here we investigated behavioral and neural correlates of caffeine and simultaneous MP exposure in a third generation (3G) Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) signal modulation scheme. METHODS: We recorded electroencephalography (EEG) and event related potentials (ERP) in an oddball paradigm to frequent standard (p=0.8) and rare target (p=0.2) stimuli in a placebo controlled, double blind, within-subject protocol in four experimental sessions: 1) no caffeine and no MP, 2) caffeine only, 3) MP only, and 4) caffeine and MP. The subjects' task was to discriminate between standard and target stimuli and respond to the latter by pressing a button while reaction time (RT) and EEG were recorded. To provide a complete analysis of any possible caffeine and/or MP treatment effects that may have occurred, we analyzed the P300 ERP wave using four different ERP measures: 1) peak latency, 2) peak amplitude, 3) 50% fractional area latency (FAL) and 4) area under the curve (AUC). RESULTS: Caffeine significantly shortened RT and decreased AUC of the P300 component compared to the control or the UMTS MP alone conditions. However, no effects were observed on RT or P300 in the UMTS MP exposure sessions, neither alone nor in combination with caffeine. CONCLUSION: Overall, the present results did not demonstrate any interactive or synergistic effects of caffeine and UMTS MP like EMF exposure on basic neural or cognitive measures. However, we found that caffeine consistently enhanced behavioral and ERP measures of visual target detection, showing that present results were obtained using a pharmacologically validated, consistent and replicable methodology.

Machine Enhanced Logic

AI evidence extraction

Structured fields below were generated from the paper’s abstract and metadata to make the evidence easier to inspect. Automated extraction may be incomplete or incorrect; verify important details against the original paper.

Study typerandomized_trial

Effect directionno_effect

PopulationNot supplied

Sample sizeNot supplied

ExposureRF

Evidence strengthModerateConfidence: 74% · Peer reviewed: yes

Main findings

In a placebo-controlled, double-blind, within-subject design with four sessions (no caffeine/no mobile phone; caffeine only; UMTS mobile phone only; caffeine+UMTS mobile phone), caffeine shortened reaction time and decreased P300 area-under-the-curve compared to control or UMTS-only. UMTS mobile phone exposure showed no effects on reaction time or P300 measures, either alone or combined with caffeine.

Outcomes measured

Reaction time (visual target detection)
EEG/ERP P300 measures (peak latency, peak amplitude, 50% fractional area latency, area under the curve)

View raw extracted JSON

{
  "study_type": "randomized_trial",
  "exposure": {
    "band": "RF",
    "source": "mobile phone",
    "frequency_mhz": null,
    "sar_wkg": null,
    "duration": null
  },
  "population": null,
  "sample_size": null,
  "outcomes": [
    "Reaction time (visual target detection)",
    "EEG/ERP P300 measures (peak latency, peak amplitude, 50% fractional area latency, area under the curve)"
  ],
  "main_findings": "In a placebo-controlled, double-blind, within-subject design with four sessions (no caffeine/no mobile phone; caffeine only; UMTS mobile phone only; caffeine+UMTS mobile phone), caffeine shortened reaction time and decreased P300 area-under-the-curve compared to control or UMTS-only. UMTS mobile phone exposure showed no effects on reaction time or P300 measures, either alone or combined with caffeine.",
  "effect_direction": "no_effect",
  "limitations": [],
  "evidence_strength": "moderate",
  "confidence": 0.74,
  "peer_reviewed_likely": "yes",
  "keywords": [
    "caffeine",
    "mobile phone",
    "UMTS",
    "3G",
    "RF-EMF",
    "EEG",
    "ERP",
    "P300",
    "oddball paradigm",
    "reaction time",
    "double blind",
    "within-subject",
    "placebo-controlled"
  ],
  "suggested_hubs": [
    {
      "slug": "mobile-phones-rf",
      "weight": 0.9,
      "reason": "Study tests concurrent UMTS (3G) mobile phone EMF exposure during cognitive/ERP task."
    }
  ]
}

AI can be wrong. Always verify against the paper.

AI-extracted fields are generated from the abstract and metadata and may be incomplete or incorrect. This material is for informational purposes and is not medical advice.

Identifiers and source

DOI: 10.1016/j.pbb.2014.07.011
PubMed: 25073015

Read the original paper →

Related papers

← Back to the Research Library