Effect of smartphone location on pharmacy students’ attention and working memory

Objectives: Smartphone use has become ubiquitous worldwide. Despite smartphone-related convenience, smartphone use has raised concerns regarding addiction among university undergraduates. This study aimed to examine the effect of smartphone location, such as desk, bag, and another room, on working memory, based on electroencephalography parameters, in pharmacy students.

Key findings: Thirty-six students were enrolled in the study. Smartphone location had no effect on electroencephalography outcomes and working memory. Partial correlation coefficients between alpha and beta and between theta and alpha values were statistically significant when the smartphone was on the desk (r = 0.869, p < 0.0001; r = 0.887, p < 0.0001; respectively), however, those between alpha and beta values were not statistically significant when the smartphone was in the bag and outside the room.

Conclusions: Smartphone locations did not affect either electroencephalography or working memory findings. Smartphones located in the bag and outside the room seemed to influence students’ concentration on the task, but this effect did not affect working memory.

Methods
The effects of smartphone use on pharmacy students’ attention and working memory were examined using electroencephalography measurements obtained during a specific task. We also examined associations among electroencephalography variables (theta, alpha, and beta waves), working memory, correct memory, correct operation, response time, smartphone dependency questionnaire score, grade point average, average daily phone use, Line use, Instagram use, Facebook use, Google use, Yahoo use, and music application use. Partial correlation coefficients were calculated for these variables.