Time-course of electromagnetic field effects on human performance and tympanic temperature.
The study aimed to investigate the time-course of electromagnetic field (EMF)-induced effects on human cognitive and behavioral performance and on tympanic temperature. Subjects were randomly assigned to two groups, exposed to a 902.40 MHz EMF before the testing session, or to the same signal during the data collecting session. Following a double-blind paradigm, subjects were tested on four performance tasks: an acoustic simple-reaction time task, a visual search task, an arithmetic descending subtraction task and an acoustic choice-reaction time task. Moreover, tympanic temperature was collected five times during each session. Results indicated an improvement of both simple- and choice-reaction times and an increase of local temperature on the exposed region under the active exposure. There was a clear time-course of the reaction time and temperature data, indicating that performance and physiological measures need a minimum of 25 min of EMF exposure to show appreciable changes.
Curcio
G
G
Department of Psychology, La Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy. giuseppe.curcio@uniroma1.it
Ferrara
M
M
De Gennaro
L
L
Cristiani
R
R
D'Inzeo
G
G
Bertini
M
M
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001831:Body Temperature / Q000502:physiology*; D004432:Ear, Middle / Q000502:physiology*; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors