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Alterations of human electroencephalographic activity caused by multiple extremely low frequency magnetic field exposures

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Cvetkovic D, Cosic I. · 2009

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Exposure to extremely low frequency magnetic fields significantly altered alpha and beta brainwave activity in human volunteers, depending on the order and period of exposure.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

Researchers tested whether a series of extremely low frequency magnetic field exposures at 50, 16.66, 13, 10, 8.33, and 4 Hz could alter relative power within corresponding brainwave bands. Thirty-three human subjects were tested under double-blind and counter-balanced conditions. Narrow alpha1 and alpha2 bands were significantly lower than control over temporal and parietal regions during the first exposure session, then significantly higher than control during the second session. The beta1 band showed a significant increase from before to after the 13 Hz first exposure session at the frontal region.

Why This Matters

The study used a double-blind, counter-balanced design with 33 human participants, and applied statistical analysis using repeated three-way ANOVA with post-hoc t-tests and Bonferroni alpha-correction. Alpha brainwave power was significantly lower than control during the first session window of 10 to 16 minutes, but significantly higher than control during the second session at 60 to 65 minutes from the start of testing. The researchers noted that this pattern of brainwave synchronization could possibly be applied as a therapeutic treatment for certain neurophysiological abnormalities such as sleep and psychiatric disorders.

Exposure Details

Magnetic Field
0.02 mT
Source/Device
4–50 Hz
Exposure Duration
2 min

Exposure Context

This study used 0.02 mT for magnetic fields:

Building Biology guidelines are practitioner-based limits from real-world assessments. BioInitiative Report recommendations are based on peer-reviewed science. Check Your Exposure to compare your own measurements.

Where This Falls on the Concern Scale

Study Exposure Level in ContextStudy Exposure Level in ContextThis study: 0.02 mTExtreme Concern - 5 mGFCC Limit - 2,000 mGEffects observed in the Extreme Concern range (Building Biology)FCC limit is 10 times higher than this level
A logarithmic frequency spectrum from 10 Hz to 100 GHz showing where this study's 50 Hz exposure sits relative to common EMF sources.Where This Frequency Sits on the EMF SpectrumELFVLFLF / MFHF / VHFUHFSHFmm10 Hz100 GHzThis study: 50 HzCell phones~1 GHzWiFi2.4 GHz5G mm28 GHzLogarithmic scale

Study Details

This study aims at extending our ELF pilot study to investigate whether MF exposures at ELF in series from 50, 16.66, 13, 10, 8.33 to 4 Hz could alter relative power within the corresponding EEG bands.

33 human subjects were tested under a double-blind and counter-balanced conditions. The multiple rep...

The results from this study have shown that narrow alpha1 (7.5–9.5 Hz) and alpha2 (9–11 Hz) bands, a...

This type of EEG synchronisation of driving alpha and beta EEG by alpha and beta sinusoidal MF stimulation, demonstrated in this study, could possibly be applied as therapeutic treatment(s) of particular neurophysiological abnormalities such as sleep and psychiatric disorders.

Cite This Study
Cvetkovic D, Cosic I. (2009). Alterations of human electroencephalographic activity caused by multiple extremely low frequency magnetic field exposures Med Biol Eng Comput. 47(10):1063-1073, 2009.
Show BibTeX
@article{d_2009_alterations_of_human_electroencephalographic_238,
  author = {Cvetkovic D and Cosic I. },
  title = {Alterations of human electroencephalographic activity caused by multiple extremely low frequency magnetic field exposures},
  year = {2009},
  doi = {10.1007/s11517-009-0525-1},
  url = {https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11517-009-0525-1},
}
DOI: 10.1007/s11517-009-0525-1

Cited By (33 papers)

Quick Questions About This Study

The study tested magnetic field exposures in a series at 50, 16.66, 13, 10, 8.33, and 4 Hz.
Thirty-three human subjects were tested under double-blind and counter-balanced conditions.
The narrow alpha1 and alpha2 bands were significantly altered over temporal and parietal regions, and the beta1 band showed a significant increase at the frontal region.
Alpha band power was significantly lower than control during the first session at 10 to 16 minutes, but significantly higher than control during the second session at 60 to 65 minutes from the start of testing.
The researchers suggested that driving alpha and beta brainwaves with matching magnetic field frequencies could possibly be applied as a therapeutic treatment for neurophysiological abnormalities such as sleep and psychiatric disorders.