We examined whether a magnetic field comparable to one of the fields produced during MRI induced steady-state changes in brain electrical activity while the field was applied (called a presence effect to distinguish it from evoked potentials). The electroencephalogram was measured from standard scalp locations in the presence and absence of 100-200 mT, 60 Hz, and the effect of the field was evaluated by nonlinear (recurrence analysis) and linear techniques; individual subjects served as their own controls. Using recurrence analysis, changes in brain activity lasting 1 sec (the longest interval considered) were found in 21 of 22 subjects (P < 0.05 for each subject). The presence effect was not detected using linear analysis and was reversible, as indicated by a return of brain activity to baseline levels in all subjects within 2 sec of field offset. The possible role of artifacts or systematic errors was ruled out by studies using electrical phantoms and by analyses of electroencephalograms recorded during sham exposure. It is reasonable to expect that actual scanner magnetic fields also produce nonlinear steady-state perturbations of brain dynamical activity. The effect may influence the picture of brain connectivity inferred in some functional MR studies. Magn Reson Med 64:349-357, 2010. V C 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.Key words: nonlinear analysis; brain electrical activity; limitation on fMRI; electric fields; magnetic fields Cognitive activity is mediated by temporal-spatial interactions involving specialized regions of the brain (1). The interactions are commonly studied using functional MRI (fMRI) employing blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) contrast imaging (2).Averaged images obtained when subjects were and were not performing particular tasks are typically used to identify brain regions that mediated task-related cognitive processing (3,4). This strategy is based on some problematical assumptions and has neuropsychological drawbacks (5), but it affords good statistical power for detecting BOLD signals (6).In MRI, static (0 Hz) magnetic fields of 1-9 T align nuclear spins, high-frequency magnetic fields (10-400 MHz) of about 0.2 mT induce transitions between spin states, and low-frequency magnetic fields (100-1000 Hz) of about 50 mT produce imaging gradients (7); in fMRI, gradient parameters produce additional magnetic fields. Physical law and physiologic conditions in the brain (blood flow, tissue motion, cell movement, motion of the head) result in the simultaneous presence of electric fields (8).Human subjects can detect magnetic fields, as evidenced by their ability to trigger onset and offset evoked potentials (9). We were interested in whether, in addition to these transient changes in brain electrical activity, magnetic fields relevant to those used in MRI also produced continuous changes during the time the field was applied (''presence effect''). Depending on the dynamical nature of the effect (see below), such a finding would enhance the possibility that BOLD data obtained during functional imaging c...