Publication

Pattern-onset stimulation boosts central multifocal VEP responses

M.B. Hoffmann; Sirko Straube; M. Bach

In: Journal of Vision, Vol. 3, Pages 432-439, Arvo, 2003.

Abstract

Multifocal visual evoked potentials (VEP) allow one to assess whether stimulation at specific visual field locations elicits cortical activity; it might therefore enable us to conduct objective visual field perimetry. However, due to the cortical folding, which differs markedly between subjects, a particular electroencephalogram generator may fail to project signal on some recording electrodes. This may lead to false alarms for potential scotomata. Here we compare pattern-reversal and pattern-onset stimulation in their efficacy to activate the visual cortex and recorded mfVEPs to 60 locations comprising a visual field of 44 degrees diameter. We report three main findings: (1) Pattern-onset compared to pattern-reversal enhances the amplitude by 30% for stimulation of the central visual field (<10 degrees radius), while evoking 30% less response in the periphery (>15 degrees ). (2) Although pattern-onset and pattern-reversal responses differ markedly in their eccentricity dependence, they have a similar topographical distribution. (3) By combining both stimuli, the number of false positives was reduced to less than 1.5% of the visual field locations tested. We conclude that pattern-onset and pattern-reversal activate identical visual cortical areas but target different neural mechanisms within these areas. Furthermore, pattern-onset stimulation greatly increases the sensitivity of the mfVEP to assess the cortical representation of the central 10 degrees of the visual field.

Weitere Links

German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence
Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz