The effect of magnetic resonance imaging on human cognition.

Potential effects of MRI exposure on aspects of human cognition were investigated out of concern that possible safety hazards associated with the procedure may exist. One hundred and fifty-seven volunteer subjects were randomly assigned to either an imaged, sham-imaged or nonimaged control condition. The following psychological tests were administered in a double blind procedure at pretreatment, post-treatment and follow-up time periods: the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (Digit Span, Block Design and Digit Symbol), the Wechsler Memory Scale Paired Associate Learning test, the Benton Revised Visual Retention test, the Vandenberg Mental Rotation test, the Sternberg memory scanning paradigm and the State Anxiety Inventory. The overall analysis of results indicated that MRI at 0.15 T has no significant effect upon the cognitive functions assessed.

RCT Entities:   Population Interventions Outcomes