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Does acute exposure to mobile phones affect human attention?
Author(s) -
Russo Riccardo,
Fox Elaine,
Cinel Caterina,
Boldini Angela,
Defeyter Margaret A.,
MirshekarSyahkal Dariush,
Mehta Amit
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
bioelectromagnetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.435
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1521-186X
pISSN - 0197-8462
DOI - 10.1002/bem.20193
Subject(s) - bioelectromagnetics , vigilance (psychology) , gsm , mobile phone , cognition , audiology , session (web analytics) , affect (linguistics) , elementary cognitive task , task (project management) , phone , acute exposure , psychology , medicine , computer science , cognitive psychology , communication , electromagnetic field , telecommunications , psychiatry , engineering , linguistics , philosophy , physics , systems engineering , quantum mechanics , world wide web
Recent studies have indicated that acute exposure to low level radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic fields generated by mobile phones affects human cognition. However, the relatively small samples used, in addition to methodological problems, make the outcomes of these studies difficult to interpret. In our study we tested a large sample of volunteers (168) using a series of cognitive tasks apparently sensitive to RF exposure (a simple reaction task, a vigilance task, and a subtraction task). Participants performed those tasks twice, in two different sessions. In one session they were exposed to RFs, with half of subjects exposed to GSM signals and the other half exposed to CW signals, while in the other session they were exposed to sham signals. No significant effects of RF exposure on performance for either GSM or CW were found, independent of whether the phone was positioned on the left or on the right side. Bioelectromagnetics 27:215–220, 2006. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.