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Updated: Aug 13, 2026

Measuring the Switch Cost of Smartphone Use While Walking
Published on: April 30, 2020
Effects of thirty minutes mobile phone use on the human sensory cortex
Kaoru Yuasa1, Noritoshi Arai, Shingo Okabe
1Department of Neurology, Division of Neuroscience, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan.
Objective:
To investigate whether the pulsed high-frequency electromagnetic field (pulsed EMF) emitted by a mobile phone for 30 min has short-term effects on human somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs).
Methods:
We studied somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) in 12 normal volunteers before and after exposure to the electromagnetic field emitted by a mobile phone for 30 min compared with sham exposure. In 7 out of the subjects we also measured the recovery function of the SEP.
Results:
Neither SEPs nor their recovery function was affected by exposure to pulsed EMF emitted by a mobile phone or sham phone use.
Conclusions:
As far as the present methods are concerned, 30 min mobile phone use has no short-term effects on the human sensory cortex.
Significance:
This is the first study of SEPs after electromagnetic exposure by the mobile phone. Our results support the safety of the mobile phone.
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