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Brain & Nervous System144 citations

Mobile phones modulate response patterns of human brain activity.

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Eulitz, C, Ullsperger, P, Freude, G, Elbert ,T · 1998

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Mobile phone radiation directly alters brain wave patterns during active thinking, potentially affecting how we process information.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

German researchers examined how mobile phone radiation affects brain activity by measuring electrical responses while people listened to sounds. They found that phone radiation altered specific patterns of brain activity, particularly in higher frequency brain waves when people were actively processing important sounds. This suggests mobile phones can directly change how our brains process information.

Why This Matters

This 1998 study provides early evidence that mobile phone radiation doesn't just pass harmlessly through brain tissue-it actively modifies neural activity patterns. The researchers found that pulsed electromagnetic fields from phones altered 'induced' brain activity (the brain's background electrical patterns) while leaving 'evoked' responses (direct reactions to stimuli) unchanged. What makes this particularly significant is that these changes occurred specifically during cognitive processing of relevant information, not during passive exposure. This suggests the brain's active state may make it more susceptible to EMF interference. The study's focus on higher frequency brain waves is noteworthy because these patterns are associated with conscious awareness and information binding-fundamental processes for cognition and memory formation.

Exposure Information

Specific exposure levels were not quantified in this study.

Study Details

The aim of this study is to investigate Mobile phones modulate response patterns of human brain activity.

Our investigations show that these electromagnetic fields alter distinct aspects of the brain's elec...

Cite This Study
Eulitz, C, Ullsperger, P, Freude, G, Elbert ,T (1998). Mobile phones modulate response patterns of human brain activity. Neuroreport 9(14):3229-3232, 1998.
Show BibTeX
@article{eulitz_1998_mobile_phones_modulate_response_2069,
  author = {Eulitz and C and Ullsperger and P and Freude and G and Elbert  andT},
  title = {Mobile phones modulate response patterns of human brain activity.},
  year = {1998},
  
  url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9831456/},
}
PubMed: 9831456

Cited By (144 papers)

View all 144 citing papers on Semantic Scholar

Quick Questions About This Study

Yes, German researchers found that mobile phone radiation alters specific brain wave patterns when people process important sounds. The 1998 study showed phones changed higher frequency brain activity during sound processing tasks, suggesting mobile phones can directly modify how your brain handles auditory information.
Research shows cell phones modify brain electrical responses during acoustic processing. The 1998 German study found mobile phone radiation altered induced brain activity in higher frequency bands when subjects processed task-relevant sounds, but had no effect during irrelevant standard audio stimuli.
Mobile phone radiation specifically affects higher frequency brain waves during sound processing. German researchers in 1998 found that phone radiation altered induced brain activity in higher frequency bands, which correlates with coherent high-frequency neuronal activity patterns in the brain.
Yes, mobile phone radiation changes brain electrical responses during sound recognition tasks. The 1998 study found phones altered brain wave patterns when people processed important target sounds, but caused no changes when processing irrelevant background sounds.
Research demonstrates electromagnetic fields can systematically alter neural mass activity patterns. The 1998 German study found mobile phone radiation modified fluctuation patterns in brain activity, particularly affecting higher frequency neuronal responses during auditory processing tasks.