Do ELF magnetic fields affect human reaction time?

• Published in: Bioelectromagnetics Vol. 16; no. 5; p. 317
• Main Authors: Podd, J V, Whittington, C J, Barnes, G R, Page, W H, Rapley, B I
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 1995
• Subjects: Adult; Double-Blind Method; Electromagnetic Fields; Environmental Exposure; Female; Humans; Magnetics - classification; Male; Middle Aged; Psychomotor Performance - radiation effects; Reaction Time - radiation effects
• ISSN: 0197-8462
• DOI: 10.1002/bem.2250160508

Two double-blind studies were run in an attempt to confirm the finding that a 0.2 Hz magnetic field affects simple reaction time (RT) in humans, whereas a 0.1 Hz field does not. In the first experiment, 12 volunteer subjects were exposed to a continuous 0.2 Hz, 0.1 Hz, or sham field in a fully counterbalanced, within-subjects design. Subjects were run singly for one condition each day over 3 consecutive days with a field strength of 1.1 mT and a daily exposure duration of 5 min. Neither magnetic field had any effect on RT at any time during the exposure. One condition of a second study, using a new group of 24 volunteer subjects, also failed to find any field effects at 0.2 Hz. Additionally, the second study failed to show any effects when the frequency, flux density, and field orientation were set according to parametric resonance theory. It is suggested that, although ELF magnetic field effects on human behaviour may be elusive, future research can improve detection rates by paying greater attention to reducing error variance and increasing statistical power.