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Brain & Nervous System

Use of mobile phones and changes in cognitive function in adolescents.

No Effects Found

Thomas S, Benke G, Dimitriadis C, Inyang I, Sim MR, Wolfe R, Croft RJ, Abramson MJ · 2010

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Mobile phone use showed no meaningful cognitive effects in adolescents over one year, though longer-term impacts remain unstudied.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

Australian researchers followed 236 seventh-grade students for one year to see if mobile phone use affected their thinking abilities. They found some small changes in how quickly students responded to computer tests, but these changes were likely due to statistical variations rather than actual phone exposure effects. The study suggests that mobile phone use doesn't meaningfully impact cognitive function in adolescents over a one-year period.

Study Details

Several studies have investigated the impact of mobile phone exposure on cognitive function in adults. However, children and adolescents are of special interest due to their developing nervous systems.

Data were derived from the Australian Mobile Radiofrequency Phone Exposed Users' Study (MoRPhEUS) wh...

236 students participated in both examinations. The proportion of mobile phone owners and the number...

We have observed that some changes in cognitive function, particularly in response time rather than accuracy, occurred with a latency period of 1 year and that some changes were associated with increased exposure. However, the increased exposure was mainly applied to those who had fewer voice calls and SMS at baseline, suggesting that these changes over time may relate to statistical regression to the mean, and not be the effect of mobile phone exposure.

Cite This Study
Thomas S, Benke G, Dimitriadis C, Inyang I, Sim MR, Wolfe R, Croft RJ, Abramson MJ (2010). Use of mobile phones and changes in cognitive function in adolescents. Occup Environ Med. 67(12):861-866, 2010a.
Show BibTeX
@article{s_2010_use_of_mobile_phones_2812,
  author = {Thomas S and Benke G and Dimitriadis C and Inyang I and Sim MR and Wolfe R and Croft RJ and Abramson MJ},
  title = {Use of mobile phones and changes in cognitive function in adolescents.},
  year = {2010},
  
  url = {https://oem.bmj.com/content/67/12/861.short},
}

Quick Questions About This Study

A 2010 Australian study following 236 seventh-graders for one year found no meaningful impact of mobile phone use on cognitive function. While researchers observed small changes in response times on computer tests, these changes were likely due to statistical variations rather than actual phone exposure effects.
Australian researchers found that students who made more voice calls and sent more text messages showed slight changes in response times on cognitive tests. However, the study concluded these changes were likely statistical artifacts rather than genuine effects of mobile phone exposure over one year.
The 2010 Thomas study found no associations between mobile phone exposure and accuracy on cognitive tests like the Stroop test in seventh-grade students. Changes were only observed in response times, not in how correctly students performed tasks over the one-year study period.
Australian researchers followed 236 seventh-grade students for exactly one year to assess whether mobile phone use affected their thinking abilities. The study measured cognitive function at baseline and follow-up, tracking changes in phone usage patterns and test performance over this 12-month period.
Statistical regression to the mean occurs when extreme measurements naturally move toward average values over time. In the 2010 Thomas study, students with initially low phone usage who later increased their usage showed cognitive changes, but researchers attributed this to statistical variation rather than phone effects.