Study: Mobile Phones Affect Brain Function

Posted on May 5, 2006

The AFP reports that a new study by scientists from Swinburne University of Technology's Brain Sciences Institute in Melbourne have found cellphones can affect brain function. They study of patients making a 30-minute phone call found a lower reaction time but increased memory.

The researchers conducted a series of psychological tests on 120 volunteers as they were exposed to mobile phone emissions for half an hour. Another set of tests was conducted on volunteers who were not exposed to mobile phone radiation but thought they were.
The results, published in April's edition of the journal Neuropsychologia, showed a small but discernable change in brain function among those who were exposed to the electromagnetic fields that mobile phones generate. "The study showed evidence of slower response times for participants undertaking simple reactions and more complex reactions, such as choosing a response when there is more than one alternative," lead researcher Con Stough said.
"This could equate to driving a car and being distracted by another car pulling out in front of you. The drivers reaction time to chose between braking, turning or sounding the horn, could be affected, albeit slightly." The study also found that radiation from mobile phones seems to improve working memory, used for example when remembering a phone number long enough to dial it. He said further work was needed using magnetic resonance imaging to clarify the way mobile phones alter on the way the brain works.

The study only focused on the single phone call so it did not measure the risk of long term mobile phone use. They only wanted to prove that cellphones can affect brain function. Con Stough, the lead researcher, told the AFP: "We're just showing that the radiation is actually active on the brain. But the impairment is small. The convenience and the way that we communicate now these days outweighs that effect."