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Psychomotor performance is not influenced by brief repeated exposures to mobile phones.

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Curcio G, Valentini E, Moroni F, Ferrara M, De Gennaro L, Bertini M · 2008

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Repeated brief exposures to a GSM mobile phone signal did not significantly affect psychomotor performance.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

The study investigated whether repeated brief exposures to a GSM mobile phone signal had a cumulative effect on psychomotor functions. After each of 3 15-min exposures, both an acoustic simple reaction time task and a sequential finger tapping task were administered to subjects. No cumulative effects were detected, though there was a non-statistical trend toward shorter reaction times.

Why This Matters

Researchers tested whether the effects of the exposure would build up across three sessions, each followed by psychomotor testing. The signal used was 902.40 MHz, 217 Hz modulated, with a peak power of 2 W and a SAR of 0.5 W/kg. The researchers noted that their findings apply to these particular exposure conditions and that cognitive effects from different signal characteristics could not be ruled out.

Exposure Details

SAR
0.5 W/kg
Source/Device
902.40 MHz, 217 Hz modulated
Exposure Duration
3- 15 minutes

Exposure Context

This study used 0.5 W/kg for SAR (device absorption):

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: 0.5 W/kgExtreme Concern - 0.1 W/kgFCC Limit - 1.6 W/kgEffects observed in the Extreme Concern range (Building Biology)FCC limit is 3 times higher than this level
A logarithmic frequency spectrum from 10 Hz to 100 GHz showing where this study's 217 Hz - 902.4 MHz exposure sits relative to common EMF sources.Where This Frequency Sits on the EMF SpectrumELFVLFLF / MFHF / VHFUHFSHFmm10 Hz100 GHzThis study: 217 Hz - 902.4 MHzPower lines50/60 HzCell phones~1 GHzWiFi2.4 GHz5G mm28 GHzLogarithmic scale

Study Details

The present study investigated the presence of a cumulative effect of brief and repeated exposures to a GSM mobile phone (902.40 MHz, 217 Hz modulated; peak power of 2 W; average power of 0.25 W; SAR = 0.5 W/kg) on psychomotor functions.

To this end, after each of 3 15-min exposures, both an acoustic simple reaction time task (SRTT) and...

The present study was unable to detect the cumulative effects of brief and repeated EMF exposure on ...

In summary, these data show an absence of effects with these particular exposure conditions; however, possible cognitive effects induced by different signal characteristics cannot be excluded.

Cite This Study
Curcio G, Valentini E, Moroni F, Ferrara M, De Gennaro L, Bertini M (2008). Psychomotor performance is not influenced by brief repeated exposures to mobile phones. Bioelectromagnetics.29(3):237-241,2008.
Show BibTeX
@article{g_2008_psychomotor_performance_is_not_914,
  author = {Curcio G and Valentini E and Moroni F and Ferrara M and De Gennaro L and Bertini M},
  title = {Psychomotor performance is not influenced by brief repeated exposures to mobile phones.},
  year = {2008},
  
  url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18163437/},
}
PubMed: 18163437

Cited By (38 papers)

View all 38 citing papers on Semantic Scholar

Quick Questions About This Study

The study used a GSM mobile phone signal at 902.40 MHz, 217 Hz modulated, with a peak power of 2 W and a SAR of 0.5 W/kg.
Subjects completed an acoustic simple reaction time task and a sequential finger tapping task after each exposure session.
There was a non-statistical trend toward shorter reaction times, but no significant cumulative effect was detected.
The researchers stated that their data show an absence of effects with these particular exposure conditions, and that possible cognitive effects from different signal characteristics cannot be excluded.