title: Effects of electromagnetic field emitted by cellular phones on the EEG during an auditory memory task: a double blind replication study.
abstract: The effects of electromagnetic fields (EMF) emitted by cellular phones on the event related desynchronization/synchronization (ERD/ERS) of the 4-6, 6-8, 8-10, and 10-12 Hz electroencephalogram (EEG) frequency bands were studied in 24 normal subjects performing an auditory memory task. This study was a systematic replication of our previous work. In the present double blind study, all subjects performed the memory task both with and without exposure to a digital 902 MHz field in a counterbalanced order. We were not able to replicate the findings from our earlier study. All eight of the significant changes in our earlier study were not significant in the present double blind replication. Also, the effect of EMF on the number of incorrect answers in the memory task was inconsistent. We previously reported no significant effect of EMF exposure on the number of incorrect answers in the memory task, but a significant increase in errors was observed in the present study. We conclude that EMF effects on the EEG and on the performance on memory tasks may be variable and not easily replicable for unknown reasons.
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Science/Department of Psychology, University of Helsinki, Finland. christina.krause@helsinki.fi
authors.forename: Christina M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Krause
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Haarala
authors.forename: Lauri
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sillanmäki
authors.forename: Mika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koivisto
authors.forename: Katarina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Alanko
authors.forename: Antti
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Revonsuo
authors.forename: Matti
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Laine
authors.forename: Heikki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hämäläinen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D040421:Cell Phone; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000528:radiation effects*; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D008872:Microwaves; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011874:Radiometry / Q000379:methods