Fast changes of electric potential with different polarities are obser
ved during sawtooth oscillations in the core region of a tokamak plasm
a using a heavy ion beam probe. Near the inversion radius the polarity
of the observed change of the potential is found to be dependent on t
he swift movement of the hot core at the crash and is consistent with
the prediction of one-fluid MHD theory. Near the magnetic axis the cha
nge of the potentials is positive and outside the inversion radius the
change is negative. This is in contradiction with the MHD prediction.