Expert: Daniel Mazur - 1/30/2006

Question
Hello,
It's me Sana, again. I've decided to do "How does cell phone radiation affect memory?" So far, I've thought of giving out surveys but I don't think that's enough for an experiment. Can you help me come up with something to make my experiment complete? Thanks for all your help before! I really appreciated it! Thanks!
Sana

Answer
Hi,
I apologize for taking longer time. The AllExperts.com had problems when I tried to post my reply and then I was away for two days. My answer to your question follows, I hope it is not too late.


Hi Sana,

of course, memory can be tested in more than one way. Surveys are of no real value in your case, they would only tell you, if people THINK their memory is affected or not.

The simplest experiment on memory is to show the subject an item (image, word, sentence, number,...) for a few seconds. After some further delay, which may or may not be filled with some 'distracting' activity, the subject is asked to recall the test item(s). You should probably work with several items at a time, so that you can immediately write down the percentage of 'memory retained or lost' during the delay.

As far as I understand memory of human brain, there are short-term and long-term memory. The short term spans at most two minutes (you may find different values somewhere else, this is just an estimate). One should adjust the time delay depending on which memory one wants to probe. All other little bits of advice I mentioned in my previous answer apply here, too.

Finally, it seems apropriate to point out that with the experiment suggested above, you are probing the IMMEDIATE effect of cell phones on memory. Make sure it is not mistaken for the long-term decay of memory similar to aging effects. If anybody wants to probe the long-term development of memory, one would need much more time and it would be a much more demanding experiment overall.

I wish you good luck, I hope I helped.
Cheers,
Daniel