title: Lack of interaction between concurrent caffeine and mobile phone exposure on visual target detection: an ERP study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Caffeine affects information processing by acting predominantly on cortical activation, arousal and attention. Millions consume caffeine and simultaneously use their mobile phone (MP) during everyday activities. However, it is not known whether and how MP-emitted electromagnetic fields (EMFs) can modulate known psychoactive effects of caffeine. Here we investigated behavioral and neural correlates of caffeine and simultaneous MP exposure in a third generation (3G) Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) signal modulation scheme.
  
  
  METHODS
  We recorded electroencephalography (EEG) and event related potentials (ERP) in an oddball paradigm to frequent standard (p=0.8) and rare target (p=0.2) stimuli in a placebo controlled, double blind, within-subject protocol in four experimental sessions: 1) no caffeine and no MP, 2) caffeine only, 3) MP only, and 4) caffeine and MP. The subjects' task was to discriminate between standard and target stimuli and respond to the latter by pressing a button while reaction time (RT) and EEG were recorded. To provide a complete analysis of any possible caffeine and/or MP treatment effects that may have occurred, we analyzed the P300 ERP wave using four different ERP measures: 1) peak latency, 2) peak amplitude, 3) 50% fractional area latency (FAL) and 4) area under the curve (AUC).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Caffeine significantly shortened RT and decreased AUC of the P300 component compared to the control or the UMTS MP alone conditions. However, no effects were observed on RT or P300 in the UMTS MP exposure sessions, neither alone nor in combination with caffeine.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Overall, the present results did not demonstrate any interactive or synergistic effects of caffeine and UMTS MP like EMF exposure on basic neural or cognitive measures. However, we found that caffeine consistently enhanced behavioral and ERP measures of visual target detection, showing that present results were obtained using a pharmacologically validated, consistent and replicable methodology.
authors: Department of Experimental Neurobiology, University of Pécs, Hungary; Szentágothai Research Centre, University of Pécs, Hungary.
authors: Attila
authors: A
authors: Trunk
authors: Translational Neuromodeling Unit (TNU), Institute for Biomedical Engineering, University of Zurich & ETH Zurich, Switzerland; Laboratory for Social and Neural Systems Research, Department of Economics, University of Zürich, Switzerland.
authors: Gábor
authors: G
authors: Stefanics
authors: Department of Experimental Neurobiology, University of Pécs, Hungary.
authors: Norbert
authors: N
authors: Zentai
authors: Szentágothai Research Centre, University of Pécs, Hungary; Department of Analytical and Environmental Chemistry, University of Pécs, Hungary.
authors: Ivett
authors: I
authors: Bacskay
authors: Szentágothai Research Centre, University of Pécs, Hungary; Department of Analytical and Environmental Chemistry, University of Pécs, Hungary.
authors: Attila
authors: A
authors: Felinger
authors: National Institute for Radiobiology and Radiohygiene (NIRR), Budapest, Hungary.
authors: György
authors: G
authors: Thuróczy
authors: Department of Experimental Neurobiology, University of Pécs, Hungary; Szentágothai Research Centre, University of Pécs, Hungary. Electronic address: hernadi@gamma.ttk.pte.hu.
authors: István
authors: I
authors: Hernádi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002110:Caffeine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D040421:Cell Phone; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010919:Placebos; D014796:Visual Perception; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010919:Placebos; D002110:Caffeine
keywords: Caffeine; Combined effects; Mobile phone; P300; Reaction time; Synergism; Visual