Acute mobile phone effects on pre-attentive operation.

Neuroscience letters · 2006 · Mixed · Low evidence

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MixedLow evidencePaper 5144

Study snapshot

PublicationNeuroscience letters · 2006

Study typeother

Reported directionMixed

Evidence ratingLow

Abstract

There is a debate whether electromagnetic field (EMF) emitted by mobile phones (MP) have an effect on cognitive functions. Since the auditory P50 component of event-related potentials (ERPs) reflects pre-attentive processing and working memory (WM) operation, the present study was designed to investigate whether the exposure to MP-EMF affects the patterns of the P50 component of ERPs elicited during a WM test. The P50 elicited during a WM task and evoked by two warning stimuli low and high frequency (500 and 3000 Hz) has been assessed in 19 normal subjects (10 women and 9 men) both without and with exposure to a 900 MHz signal, emitted by a dipole antenna placed near the subjects. Results showed that the presence of MP-EMFs induced statistically significant increase in the amplitude of P50 evoked by the low frequency stimuli, at Fp1 and O1 electrode leads as compared to themselves without MP-EMF exposure. In contrast the exposure to MP-EMFs revealed statistically significant decrease of the amplitude of P50 evoked by the high frequency stimuli, at Fp1 electrode lead as compared to themselves without MP-EMF exposure. These findings provide evidence that the MP-EMF emitted by mobile phone affect pre-attentive information processing as it is reflected in P50 evoked potential. The basis of such an effect is unclear, although several possibilities exist and call for potential directions of future research.

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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 typeother

Effect directionmixed

Population19 normal subjects (10 women and 9 men)

Sample size19

ExposureRF · 900 MHz

Evidence strengthLowConfidence: 74% · Peer reviewed: yes

Main findings

In 19 subjects, exposure to a 900 MHz signal emitted by a dipole antenna placed near the subjects was associated with a statistically significant increase in P50 amplitude for low-frequency (500 Hz) stimuli at Fp1 and O1 compared with no exposure. For high-frequency (3000 Hz) stimuli, exposure was associated with a statistically significant decrease in P50 amplitude at Fp1 compared with no exposure.

Outcomes measured

Auditory P50 component amplitude of event-related potentials (ERPs) during a working memory task (pre-attentive processing)

Limitations

Exposure duration not reported in abstract
Specific exposure metric (e.g., SAR) not reported in abstract
Small sample size (n=19)
Mechanism/basis of observed effects described as unclear

View raw extracted JSON

{
  "study_type": "other",
  "exposure": {
    "band": "RF",
    "source": "mobile phone",
    "frequency_mhz": 900,
    "sar_wkg": null,
    "duration": null
  },
  "population": "19 normal subjects (10 women and 9 men)",
  "sample_size": 19,
  "outcomes": [
    "Auditory P50 component amplitude of event-related potentials (ERPs) during a working memory task (pre-attentive processing)"
  ],
  "main_findings": "In 19 subjects, exposure to a 900 MHz signal emitted by a dipole antenna placed near the subjects was associated with a statistically significant increase in P50 amplitude for low-frequency (500 Hz) stimuli at Fp1 and O1 compared with no exposure. For high-frequency (3000 Hz) stimuli, exposure was associated with a statistically significant decrease in P50 amplitude at Fp1 compared with no exposure.",
  "effect_direction": "mixed",
  "limitations": [
    "Exposure duration not reported in abstract",
    "Specific exposure metric (e.g., SAR) not reported in abstract",
    "Small sample size (n=19)",
    "Mechanism/basis of observed effects described as unclear"
  ],
  "evidence_strength": "low",
  "confidence": 0.74,
  "peer_reviewed_likely": "yes",
  "keywords": [
    "mobile phone",
    "RF-EMF",
    "900 MHz",
    "event-related potentials",
    "P50",
    "pre-attentive processing",
    "working memory",
    "auditory stimuli"
  ],
  "suggested_hubs": [
    {
      "slug": "who-icnirp",
      "weight": 0.25,
      "reason": "Study examines RF exposure from mobile-phone-like signal and reports neurophysiological effects relevant to EMF health evidence discussions."
    }
  ]
}

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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.neulet.2005.12.001
PubMed: 16406308

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