3,138 Studies Reviewed. 77.4% Found Biological Effects. The Evidence is Clear.

Note: This study found no significant biological effects under its experimental conditions. We include all studies for scientific completeness.

No effect of an UMTS mobile phone‐like electromagnetic field of 1.97 GHz on human attention and reaction time

No Effects Found

Unterlechner M, Sauter C, Schmid G, Zeitlhofer J · 2008

View Original Abstract
Share:

Short-term 3G phone exposure showed no immediate effects on attention or reaction time in healthy adults.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

Researchers exposed 40 healthy adults to 3G mobile phone signals at 1.97 GHz for 90 minutes while testing their attention and reaction time through computer tasks. The study found no immediate effects on cognitive performance at exposure levels up to 0.63 W/kg SAR (specific absorption rate), which represents the amount of RF energy absorbed by brain tissue. This suggests that short-term exposure to 3G phone signals does not impair basic mental functions like attention and reaction speed.

Study Details

To study the effect of an UMTS mobile phone-like electromagnetic field of 1.97 GHz on human attention and reaction time.

In our study, 40 healthy volunteers (20 female, 20 male), aged 26.0 years (range 21–30 years) underw...

Statistical analysis of the obtained test parameters showed that exposure to the generic UMTS signal...

Therefore, this study does not provide any evidence that exposure of UMTS mobiles interferes with attention under short‐term exposure conditions.

Cite This Study
Unterlechner M, Sauter C, Schmid G, Zeitlhofer J (2008). No effect of an UMTS mobile phone‐like electromagnetic field of 1.97 GHz on human attention and reaction time Bioelectromagnetics. 29(2):145-153, 2008.
Show BibTeX
@article{m_2008_no_effect_of_an_2817,
  author = {Unterlechner M and Sauter C and Schmid G and Zeitlhofer J},
  title = {No effect of an UMTS mobile phone‐like electromagnetic field of 1.97 GHz on human attention and reaction time},
  year = {2008},
  doi = {10.1002/bem.20374},
  url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/bem.20374},
}

Quick Questions About This Study

Researchers exposed 40 healthy adults to 3G mobile phone signals at 1.97 GHz for 90 minutes while testing their attention and reaction time through computer tasks. The study found no immediate effects on cognitive performance at exposure levels up to 0.63 W/kg SAR (specific absorption rate), which represents the amount of RF energy absorbed by brain tissue. This suggests that short-term exposure to 3G phone signals does not impair basic mental functions like attention and reaction speed.