Study type: Medical/biological study (experimental study)

Effects of modulated very high frequency fields on specific brain rhythms in cats med./bio.

By: Bawin SM, Gavalas-Medici RJ, Adey WR
Published in: Brain Res 1973; 58 (2): 365-384
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Aim of study (acc. to author)

To study the effect of exposures to low intensity, very high frequency (VHF) electrical fields, amplitude modulated at biological frequencies on untrained and conditioned cats.

Background/further details

A series of cats was operantly trained to produce specific transient brain rhythms following periodic presentations of a light flash stimulus (experiment 1). The specifity of the frequency of the modulation was tested on another group of untrained cats (experiment 2, preliminary testing session).

Endpoint

Exposure

Exposure Parameters
Exposure 1: 147 MHz
Modulation type: AM
Exposure duration: 50 min, 6 days

Exposure 1

Main characteristics
Frequency 147 MHz
Type
Exposure duration 50 min, 6 days
Modulation
Modulation type AM
Modulation frequency 1–25 Hz
Modulation depth 90 %
Exposure setup
Exposure source
  • two aluminium plates (410cm²), long axis of animal parallel to field plates
Chamber isolation booth 2,4x2,4x2,0m wooden with No. 10 mesh copper screening
Parameters
Measurand Value Type Method Mass Remarks
power density 10 W/m² - - - 40 per cent loss in room
Additional parameter details

stimulus: 100 flashes, fixed intervals of 30s, followed by an electrical stimulation of frontal eye field 400ms 400pulses/s (300-500µA at 10 Ohm series)

Exposed system:

Methods Endpoint/measurement parameters/methodology

Investigated system:
Investigated organ system:
Time of investigation:
  • during exposure

Main outcome of study (acc. to author)

The results indicate that low level VHF fields, amplitude modulated at specific frequencies, produce marked effects on conditioned specific brain rhythms (e.g. enhanced regularity of the patterns, sharpening of the spectral peaks around the central frequency of the response). These effects cannot to be attributed to the conditioning procedure, since the results started to diverge from the two controls only after imposition of the fields. The innumerable tests conducted within every session and the sharp contrast in the EEG between correct versus incorrect responses strongly suggest a genuine biological transduction in the CNS, which could be described as an enhancement of frequency-related biological rhythms.
The data obtained in the second experiment indicate that it is indeed possible to selectively enhance various brain rhythms by reinforcing their spontaneous occurrence with short irradiations by the fields, amplitude-modulated at appropriate frequencies. The hypothesis is offered that the fields were acting as effective contingent reinforcers in both experiments.

Study character:

Study funded by

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