The invention provides a novel way of handling electric or electromagnetic signals during magnetic resonance (MR) measurements. Non-MR data signals such as EPH signals (e.g. EEG, ECG, blood pressure, respiration) or subject responses (e.g. keystrokes, joystick movements) originating in the MR suite is recorded while performing magnetic resonance imaging or spectroscopy. Relatively simple, possibly battery driven hardware is used to transform the non-MR signals into radio waves detectable by the MR apparatus. The electrical signals are in this way encoded as artifacts appearing in the MR images or spectra outside the region of interest, and the encoded signals can subsequently be reconstructed from the signal recorded by the scanner If oversampling is employed, artifacts can be avoided altogether. The method inherently provides superior synchronisation between the sampling of non-MR data signals and the MR sequence. The invention minimises the need for costly special MR adapted equipment and can be applied with scanners for MR imaging as well as with NMR spectrometers.