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Memory performance, wireless communication and exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields: A prospective cohort study in adolescents.

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Schoeni A, Roser K, Röösli M. · 2015

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Teens who made more cell phone calls showed measurable memory decline over one year, with radiation dose being the key factor.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

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.

Cite This Study
Schoeni A, Roser K, Röösli M. (2015). Memory performance, wireless communication and exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields: A prospective cohort study in adolescents. Environ Int. 85:343-351, 2015.
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/},
}
PubMed: 26474271

Cited By (64 papers)

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Quick Questions About This Study

Yes, Swiss researchers found that teenagers who made more voice calls showed declining figural memory over one year. This study of 439 adolescents revealed that phone radiation from calls specifically impaired the ability to remember shapes and visual patterns in developing brains.
Voice calls hold phones against the head, exposing the brain to higher radiofrequency radiation levels. The Swiss study found texting and gaming showed no memory effects because these activities produce minimal radiation emissions compared to voice calls.
The study found each interquartile increase in radiation dose decreased figural memory scores by 0.26 to 0.40 units. This represents a measurable decline in teenagers' ability to remember visual patterns and shapes over one year of phone use.
Cell phones specifically impair figural memory in teenagers - the ability to remember shapes, visual patterns, and spatial information. The Swiss study found no effects on other memory types, suggesting radiation particularly affects visual-spatial processing in developing brains.
This study focused specifically on adolescents during critical brain development years. Researchers tracked 439 teenagers for one year and found declining figural memory with increased phone use, suggesting developing brains may be more vulnerable to radiofrequency radiation effects.