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Twelve volunteers participated in a small pilot study. They were exposed to RFR from a GSM pulsed signal at a frequency of 894.6 MHz. The exposure was for 1 hour, and during the last 30 minutes the participants undertook an auditory task, in which they responded by pressing the left mouse button for a computer every time they heard an auditory cue. The volunteers also performed the task while sham exposed. The real and sham exposures were given 1 week apart, and were counterbalanced - half the subjects had the real exposure in the first week, and the others in the second week. The subjects were unaware of their exposure status. EEG recordings were made during the exposures. Due to faulty equipment, only data from anterior electrodes could be used. In real relative to sham exposure N100 amplitude and latency to non-targets were reduced, with the reduction larger over midline and right hemisphere site (the phone was mounted on the right side of the head). P300 latency to targets was delayed in the real exposure condition - but this is difficult to interpret since the difference was greatest at left frontal and central sites. Reaction time increased in the real relative to the sham condition. No difference in accuracy was found. The authors conclude that cell phone exposure may influence neural activity, particularly in proximity to the phone, but state that caution should be applied in interpreting the results in view of the small sample size.
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