Memory performance, wireless communication and exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields: A prospective cohort study in adolescents.
Schoeni A, Roser K, Röösli M. · 2015
View Original AbstractTeens who made more cell phone calls showed measurable memory decline over one year, with radiation dose being the key factor.
Plain English Summary
Swiss researchers followed 439 adolescents for one year, testing their memory performance while tracking their cell phone use. They found that teens who used their phones more for voice calls showed declining figural memory (the ability to remember shapes and visual patterns) over the year. Importantly, activities that produce minimal radiation like texting and gaming showed no memory effects, suggesting the radiation itself - not just phone use habits - may be impacting developing brains.
Why This Matters
This study stands out because it tracked the same adolescents over time rather than just taking a snapshot, making it much stronger evidence for cause and effect. The researchers found a clear dose-response relationship - more phone radiation exposure correlated with greater memory decline. What makes this particularly concerning is that these effects occurred at exposure levels typical of everyday cell phone use among teenagers. The fact that low-radiation activities like texting showed no impact while voice calls did suggests we're seeing genuine biological effects from RF-EMF, not just behavioral impacts from device use. This adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that developing brains may be especially vulnerable to wireless radiation, which is why many health experts recommend minimizing direct head exposure during phone calls.
Exposure Information
Specific exposure levels were not quantified in this study.
Study Details
The aim of this study is to investigate whether memory performance in adolescents is affected by radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) from wireless device use or by the wireless device use itself due to non-radiation related factors in that context.
We conducted a prospective cohort study with 439 adolescents. Verbal and figural memory tasks at bas...
The kappa coefficients between cumulative mobile phone call duration and RF-EMF brain and whole body...
A change in memory performance over one year was negatively associated with cumulative duration of wireless phone use and more strongly with RF-EMF dose. This may indicate that RF-EMF exposure affects memory performance.
Show BibTeX
@article{a_2015_memory_performance_wireless_communication_2572,
author = {Schoeni A and Roser K and Röösli M.},
title = {Memory performance, wireless communication and exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields: A prospective cohort study in adolescents. },
year = {2015},
url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26474271/},
}