title: Microwaves emitted by cellular telephones affect human slow brain potentials.
abstract: The influence of electromagnetic fields (EMF) emitted by cellular telephones on preparatory slow brain potentials (SP) was studied in two experiments, about 6 months apart. In the first experiment, a significant decrease of SP was found during exposure to EMF in a complex visual monitoring task (VMT). This effect was replicated in the second experiment. In addition to the VMT, EMF effects on SP were analysed in two further, less demanding tasks: in a simple finger movement task to elicit a Bereitschaftspotential (BP) and in a two-stimulus task to elicit a contingent negative variation (CNV). In comparison to the VMT, no significant main EMF effects were found in BP and CNV tasks. The results accounted for a selective EMF effect on particular aspects of human information processing, but did not indicate any influence on human performance, well-being and health.
authors.affiliation: Bundesanstalt für Arbeitsschutz und Arbeitsmedizin, Noeldnerstrasse 40-42, D-10317 Berlin, Germany. freude@baua.de
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Freude
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ullsperger
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Eggert
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ruppe
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D003265:Contingent Negative Variation / Q000528:radiation effects; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000528:radiation effects; D019054:Evoked Potentials, Motor / Q000528:radiation effects; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000528:radiation effects; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008872:Microwaves; D011698:Pursuit, Smooth / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000528:radiation effects; D013689:Telephone