Impact of expectancy on fatigue by exposure to the fifth generation of mobile communication signals

There is a long-standing debate about the relationship between Radio Frequency Electromagnetic Field (RF-EMF) exposure and fatigue. Past studies primarily rely on self-report scales to assess fatigue, but these methods are often susceptible to personal biases. Notably, the role of psychological factors in the fatigue response induce by RF-EMF exposure remains unclear. Therefore, our study focuses on exploring the impact of 5 G signal exposure on human fatigue, particularly considering the influence of expectancy induced by psychological priming on the outcomes. In this study, we recruited 21 healthy subjects who were tested in three sessions. Each session included two 30-min exposures to either real or sham 5 G signals, with the order randomized. The experiment was conducted under varying informational conditions: subjects were provided with correct, false, or no information about the order of exposure. Additionally, subjects completed a fatigue scoring questionnaire and underwent Electroencephalogram (EEG) measurements during the experiment. The statistical comparison indicates that 5 G RF-EMF exposure at routine levels does not lead to changes in EEG power. The finding reveals that the report of fatigue can be altered by the conveyed information of being exposed by 5 G signals although there is no real exposure and no detectable electrophysiological indicator. Our findings suggest that it is necessary to prevent psychological priming in any kind or to take its possible consequence into consideration, to reveal this effect of RF-EMF exposure.