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Brain & Nervous System

Effects of high frequency electromagnetic field (EMF) emitted by mobile phones on the human motor cortex

No Effects Found

Inomata-Terada S, Okabe S, Arai N, Hanajima R, Terao Y, Frubayashi T, Ugawa Y. · 2007

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Thirty minutes of mobile phone exposure showed no immediate effects on brain motor function in this small study of 12 people.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

Researchers exposed 10 healthy volunteers and 2 multiple sclerosis patients to mobile phone radiation for 30 minutes, then measured brain activity in the motor cortex (the brain region controlling movement) using magnetic stimulation. They found no changes in brain function or nerve signal transmission after the exposure compared to fake exposure sessions. The study suggests that short-term mobile phone use doesn't immediately impair motor cortex function, though the small sample size limits the ability to detect subtle effects.

Why This Matters

This study represents one piece of a much larger puzzle regarding mobile phone radiation's effects on brain function. While the researchers found no immediate changes in motor cortex activity after 30 minutes of exposure, several factors limit what we can conclude. The sample size was small (only 10 healthy participants), and the study only looked at one specific brain region for immediate effects. The reality is that EMF research consistently shows that biological effects often require longer exposure periods or repeated exposures to manifest. What this means for you is that while this particular study didn't find acute effects on motor function, it doesn't address the cumulative impacts of years of daily mobile phone use that most of us experience. The authors themselves acknowledged they may have missed subtle effects due to their limited sample size.

Exposure Information

Specific exposure levels were not quantified in this study. The study examined exposure from: Mobile Phones Duration: 30 minutes

Study Details

We investigated whether the pulsed high frequency electromagnetic field (EMF) emitted by a mobile phone has short term effects on the human motor cortex.

We measured motor evoked potentials (MEPs) elicited by single pulse transcranial magnetic stimulatio...

MEPs to single pulse TMS were also recorded in two patients with multiple sclerosis showing temperat...

Cite This Study
Inomata-Terada S, Okabe S, Arai N, Hanajima R, Terao Y, Frubayashi T, Ugawa Y. (2007). Effects of high frequency electromagnetic field (EMF) emitted by mobile phones on the human motor cortex Bioelectromagnetics. 28(7):553-561, 2007.
Show BibTeX
@article{s_2007_effects_of_high_frequency_2764,
  author = {Inomata-Terada S and Okabe S and Arai N and Hanajima R and Terao Y and Frubayashi T and Ugawa Y. },
  title = {Effects of high frequency electromagnetic field (EMF) emitted by mobile phones on the human motor cortex},
  year = {2007},
  doi = {10.1002/bem.20318},
  url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/bem.20318},
}
DOI: 10.1002/bem.20318

Cited By (31 papers)

Quick Questions About This Study

A 2007 study found no changes in motor cortex function after 30 minutes of mobile phone exposure. Researchers measured brain activity controlling movement in 10 healthy volunteers and found no differences between real and fake exposure sessions.
Research testing mobile phone radiation on multiple sclerosis patients found no worsening of motor function. Two MS patients showed no changes in brain signals controlling movement after 30-minute phone exposure, even though they were sensitive to temperature changes.
A study using 30-minute mobile phone exposures detected no immediate effects on brain motor control. The researchers used magnetic stimulation to measure nerve signals and found no changes in brain function controlling movement after exposure.
Scientists used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to test motor cortex function after mobile phone exposure. This technique measures brain signals controlling movement but detected no changes after 30 minutes of radiation exposure in healthy volunteers.
The first study testing mobile phone effects in neurological patients found no increased sensitivity. Multiple sclerosis patients showed no motor function changes after phone exposure, suggesting neurological conditions don't increase vulnerability to short-term radiation effects.