ID Number		1625
Study Type		Human / Provocation
Model		900 MHz exposure to human volunteers and evaluation of cognitive function
Details		Human subjects (n = 120) were exposed to 900 MHz (GSM) from a mobile phone for 60 minutes and evaluated using 8 different cognitive function tests. No specific SAR was provided, just that the mobile phone was set at max transmit power (0.25 watts average) and mounted on a non-metalic helmet. The authors performed 8 different cognitive tests and report a significant increase in simple (RT) and choice (CRT) reaction times (decreased performance), but a significant improvement of performance on a Trail Making Task (TMT). The authors suggest the results indicate RF exposure from mobile phones may improve the speed of higher level cognitive functions and processing of information held in working memory.
Findings		Effects
Status		Completed With Publication
Principal Investigator		Swinburne Institute of Technology, Australia - awood@swin.edu.au
Funding Agency		NHMRC, Australia
Country		AUSTRALIA
References		Keetley, V et al. Neurophychologia, (2006) 44:1843-1848 Lewis, MB Neuropsychologia., (2007) 45:1580-1581
Comments		Findings contrast with Koivisto (2000a) [decreased RT, no effect on CRT) and Preece (1999) [no effect on RT, decreased CRT]. Report of improved RT for TMT (working memory) tasks in the present paper is supported by Koivisto (2000a) who suggested RF may effect higher level cognitive functions. Exposure was performed using a standard mobile phone (set at max power) with no other SAR information (just a range for all mobile phones (0.16 to 0.69 W/kg to the head, 0.06 to 0.41 W/kg to the brain) from Gandhi (1995). Absolute ifferences associated with the findings were very small, and it is very likely some element of variability was involved. A letter to the editor by Lewis is critical of the design and statistical analysis