Research

Project Title:
Mobile cellular communication and cognitive functioning

Start Date:
June 2002

Expected Date of Completion:
April 2005

Cost:
£279,000

Principal Investigator:
Professor Riccardo Russo

Contact Details:
Department of Psychology
University of Essex
Wivenhoe Park
Colchester
CO4 3SQ

Expertise:

This research project will be conducted at University of Essex under the supervision of Dr. Riccardo Russo (Dept. of Psychology), Prof. Elaine Fox (Dept. of Psychology), and Prof. Dariush Mirshekar (Dept. of Electronic Systems Engineering).

Approach:

A series of double-blind laboratory controlled experiments, conducted on adult volunteers, will assess the effect of concurrent exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (REF) emitted by the antenna of mobile phones on memory and attention. REF will be generated in the laboratory using a signal source device covering the standard frequencies used by GSM and analogue mobile phones.

Potential Difficulties:

None that can be anticipated.

Importance:

Recent studies have suggested that the use of mobile phones may affect memory and attention in humans. However, a closer scrutiny of these studies suggests that these findings could simply reflect a statistical artefact. Therefore, the present research intends to overcome the limitations of previous studies providing a thorough evaluation of the impact of the use of GSM and analogue phones on attention and memory in adults.