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Brain & Nervous System

Effects of GSM electromagnetic field on the MEG during an encoding-retrieval task.

No Effects Found

Hinrichs H, Heinze HJ. · 2004

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Cell phone radiation altered brain wave patterns during memory formation, showing biological effects even when memory performance appeared normal.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

German researchers tested whether cell phone radiation affects memory by measuring brain activity while people memorized words. They found that GSM 1800 radiation (the type used in European cell phones) altered specific brain wave patterns during memory formation, though participants didn't notice any difference in their actual memory performance. This suggests cell phone radiation can interfere with normal brain processing even when we don't feel any obvious effects.

Exposure Information

A logarithmic frequency spectrum from 10 Hz to 100 GHz showing where this study's 1800 MHz exposure sits relative to common EMF sources.Where This Frequency Sits on the EMF SpectrumELFVLFLF / MFHF / VHFUHFSHFmm10 Hz100 GHzThis study: 1800 MHzPower lines50/60 Hz5G mm28 GHzLogarithmic scale

The study examined exposure from: GSM 1800

Study Details

Potential effects of GSM 1800 electromagnetic fields (EMF) on verbal memory encoding were investigated by recording event-related magnetic fields (ERMF) from the brain during subsequent memory retrieval.

Twelve normal subjects participated in the study. After encoding words from a study list presented i...

Exposure to EMF changed an early (350-400 ms) task-specific component of the ERMF indicating an inte...

Adverse health effects cannot be derived from these data.

Cite This Study
Hinrichs H, Heinze HJ. (2004). Effects of GSM electromagnetic field on the MEG during an encoding-retrieval task. Neuroreport. 15(7):1191-1194, 2004.
Show BibTeX
@article{h_2004_effects_of_gsm_electromagnetic_3082,
  author = {Hinrichs H and Heinze HJ.},
  title = {Effects of GSM electromagnetic field on the MEG during an encoding-retrieval task.},
  year = {2004},
  
  url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15129172/},
}
PubMed: 15129172

Cited By (34 papers)

Quick Questions About This Study

Yes, German researchers found that GSM 1800 radiation altered specific brain wave patterns during word memorization tasks. The study detected changes in early brain activity (350-400 milliseconds) during memory encoding, though participants showed no noticeable difference in actual memory performance.
No, you typically cannot feel brain wave changes from cell phone radiation. The 2004 German study found that GSM 1800 radiation altered brain activity patterns during memory tasks, but participants were completely unaware of any effects on their thinking or memory.
GSM 1800 radiation interferes with brain processing during word memorization but doesn't affect actual memory performance. German researchers found altered brain wave patterns in the encoding phase (350-400 ms) when people memorized words, though memory test scores remained unchanged.
The health significance of brain wave changes from phone radiation remains unclear. While German researchers found GSM 1800 radiation altered brain activity during memory tasks, they concluded that adverse health effects cannot be determined from these brain wave pattern changes alone.
Brain activity changes significantly 350-400 milliseconds after GSM 1800 phone radiation exposure during memory encoding tasks. German researchers detected altered brain wave patterns in this specific time window when people were memorizing words, indicating interference with normal brain processing.