Simultaneous exposure to MRI-related static and low-frequency movement-induced time-varying magnetic fields affects neurocognitive performance: A double-blind randomized crossover study.
van Nierop LE, Slottje P, van Zandvoort M, Kromhout H. · 2014
View Original AbstractMovement within strong magnetic fields impairs memory and attention, while static magnetic fields alone show no cognitive effects.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed 36 healthy volunteers to magnetic fields from a 7 Tesla MRI scanner to test effects on brain function. They found that exposure to both static magnetic fields (1.0 Tesla) combined with time-varying fields created by head movement significantly impaired verbal memory and visual acuity, while static fields alone had no effect. This suggests that movement within strong magnetic fields may be particularly problematic for cognitive performance.
Why This Matters
This carefully controlled study provides important insights into how magnetic field exposure affects brain function. The researchers used extremely strong magnetic fields (1.0 Tesla is roughly 20,000 times stronger than Earth's magnetic field) to isolate specific effects, finding that movement within these fields was the key factor triggering cognitive impairment. What makes this research particularly valuable is its rigorous double-blind design and the discovery that static magnetic fields alone didn't cause problems. While most people won't encounter 1.0 Tesla fields in daily life, this study helps us understand the mechanisms by which magnetic fields might affect the brain. The finding that movement amplifies magnetic field effects could have implications for workers in high-field environments and raises questions about cumulative exposure effects from weaker but more common sources.
Exposure Details
- Magnetic Field
- 1000 mG
Exposure Context
This study used 1000 mG for magnetic fields:
- 50Mx above the Building Biology guideline of 0.2 mG
- 10Mx above the BioInitiative Report recommendation of 1 mG
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 Details
This experimental study aims to separate neurocognitive effects resulting from exposure to static magnetic stray fields (SMF) alone and the combination of SMF and low-frequency movement-induced time-varying magnetic fields (TVMF) using a 7 Tesla (T) MRI scanner in stand-by mode.
In a double-blind randomized crossover experiment, 36 healthy volunteers underwent four sessions, tw...
Exposure to SMF in combination with TVMF decreased verbal memory performance significantly and chang...
Neurocognitive effects were only observed when simultaneously exposed to SMF and TVMF from a 7 T MRI scanner. Therefore, exposure to TVMF seems essential in eliciting the neurocognitive effects in our present study and, presumably, previous experiments.
Show BibTeX
@article{le_2014_simultaneous_exposure_to_mrirelated_726,
author = {van Nierop LE and Slottje P and van Zandvoort M and Kromhout H.},
title = {Simultaneous exposure to MRI-related static and low-frequency movement-induced time-varying magnetic fields affects neurocognitive performance: A double-blind randomized crossover study.},
year = {2014},
url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25224577/},
}