Gender related differences on the EEG during a simulated mobile phone signal.

Papageorgiou CC, Nanou ED, Tsiafakis VG, Capsalis CN, Rabavilas AD

Neuroreport. 15(16):2557-2560, 2004

The present study investigated the gender-related influence of electromagnetic fields (EMF), similar to that emitted by mobile phones, on brain activity.

Ten women and nine men performed a short memory task (Wechsler test), both without (baseline) and with exposure to a 900 MHz signal. The EEG energy of the total waveform and the alpha, beta, delta and theta; rhythms were calculated from the recordings of 15 scalp electrodes.

Baseline EEG energy of males was greater than that of females, while exposure to EMF decreased EEG energy of males and increased that of females. Memory performance was invariant to EMF exposure and gender influences. These findings indicate that EMF may exert a gender-related nfluence on brain activity.