College begins new study on the possible effects of mobile phones on child cognitive development

This week College researchers began a new study investigating the possible effects mobile phones and other wireless devices may have on the mental development of children. The Study of Cognition, Adolescents and Mobile Phones (SCAMP) will focus on thinking skills, attention span and memory, tracking 2,500 11-12 year old students, aiming to repeat the tests in 2017.

SCAMP is an independent, three-year study costing just under £1 million, commissioned by the Department of Health Policy Research Programme and funded by a consortium including the Department of Health, the Medical Research Council, the Health and Safety Executive, Orange and Vodafone. The study comes under the Research Initiative on Health and Mobile Telecommunications and also includes academics from Birkbeck (University of London).

Dr Mireille Toledano, Principal Investigator of the study, from the MRC-PHE Centre for Environment and Health at College, explains: “As mobile phones are a new and widespread technology central to our lives, carrying out the SCAMP study is important in order to provide the evidence base with which to inform policy and through which parents and their children can make informed life choices… By assessing the children in year 7 and again in year 9 we will be able to see how their cognitive abilities develop in relation to changing use of mobile phones and other wireless technologies”

Scientists are still uncertain about any possible effects radio waves might have on cognitive development, however the fact that the majority of 11-12 year olds own a mobile phone, while almost 80% of secondary schools use WiFi makes this subject important for researchers.