The averaged electrical responses to diffuse and to patterned light in the human

https://doi.org/10.1016/0013-4694(65)90241-5Get rights and content

Abstract

  • 1.

    1. A marked difference was obtained in the averaged electrical responses of normal subjects when patterned light was used for stimulation instead of diffuse light. This difference is manifested mainly by the presence of a surface-positive “late wave” (180–375 msec), the amplitude of which varies with the density of contrast borders between black and white lines of the stimulus pattern. The different effect of diffuse and patterned light was also manifested with paired and with repetitive stimuli. Since the “light response”, the “cortical excitability cycle” and the “driving” vary with comparatively subtle changes of the input, these evoked phenomena cannot be considered to be only expressions of invariable cortical characteristics.

  • 2.

    2. Spontaneous or induced changes in attention or variations in light intensity affected both types of responses in the same sense and did not appear to account for the difference between them.

  • 3.

    3. Because the “late wave” depends on the peripheral input and because it is limited to the posterior head regions like the other components of light responses, it should be considered “specific” notwithstanding its long latency.

References (53)

  • P.F. Werre et al.

    Variability of responses evoked by flashes in man

    Electroenceph. clin. Neurophysiol.

    (1964)
  • C. Ajmone Marsan et al.

    Cortical control and callosal mechanisms in the visual system of cat

    Electroenceph. clin. Neurophysiol.

    (1961)
  • J. Bancaud et al.

    Contribution E.E.G. à l'étude des potentiels évoqués chez l'homme au niveau du vertex

    Rev. neurol.

    (1953)
  • S.H. Bartley

    Temporal and spatial summation of extrinsic impulses with the intrinsic activity of the cortex

    J. cell. comp. Physiol.

    (1936)
  • S.H. Bartley

    The relation between the cortical response to visual stimulation and changes in the alpha rhythm

    J. exp. Psychol.

    (1940)
  • G. Baumgartner

    Kontraslichteffekte an retinalen Ganglienzellen: Ableitungen vom Tractus opticus der Katze

  • G. Baumgartner

    Die Reaktionen der Neurone des zentralen visuellen Systems der Katze in simultanen Helligkeitskontrast

  • R.G. Bickford et al.

    Stimulus factors in the mechanism of television-induced seizures

    Trans. Amer. Neurol. Ass.

    (1962)
  • K.E. Bignall et al.

    Origin of a photically evoked afterdischarge in cat visual cortex

    J. Neurophysiol.

    (1964)
  • M.A. Brazier

    Studies of evoked responses by flash in man and cat

  • M.A.B. Brazier

    Long-persisting electrical traces in the brain of man and their possible relationship to higher nervous activity

    Electroenceph. clin. Neurophysiol.

    (1960)
  • J. Calvet et al.

    Potentiels évoqués corticaux chez l'homme: étude analytique

    Rev. neurol.

    (1956)
  • L. Cigánek

    Potentiels corticaux chez l'homme, évoqués par les stimuli photiques

    Rev. neurol.

    (1958)
  • L. Cigánek

    Excitability cycle of the visual cortex in man

    Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci.

    (1964)
  • W.A. Cobb

    On the form and latency of the human cortical response to illumination of th retina

    Electroenceph. clin. Neurophysiol.

    (1950)
  • W.A. Cobb et al.

    The latency and form in man of the occipital potentials evoked by bright flashes

    J. Physiol.

    (1960)
  • Cited by (122)

    • Stimuli to differentiate the neural response at successive stages of visual processing using the VEP from human visual cortex

      2018, Journal of Neuroscience Methods
      Citation Excerpt :

      Their findings concurs with the presence of a temporal – and spatial luminance contrast selective mechanism in the primate visual system (Derrington and Lennie, 1984). The independent nature of these two mechanism is highlighted by reports that the VEP following the onset of a stimulus lacking spatial luminance contrast, i.e. a diffuse light source, is simpler in structure than that obtained following the onset of a stimulus containing spatial luminance contrast, e.g. a dartboard pattern or grating (Marcar and Jancke, 2016; Spehlmann, 1965). The size of the neural population active during temporal luminance contrast processing is given by the low spatial frequency characteristic of a stimulus while the size of the neural population processing the spatial frequency contrast is given by its high spatial frequency characteristic (Marcar and Jancke, 2016).

    • Expectations about person identity modulate the face-sensitive N170

      2016, Cortex
      Citation Excerpt :

      However, it also means that we were not able to test whether there were differences between conditions at P100. However, the P100 is thought to be predominately generated by primary visual areas (Spehlmann, 1965), and hence, relate more to the encoding of low-level visual features (Eimer, 2011). Work by Rossion and Caharel (2011) has shown that when low-level stimulus characteristics are well controlled, the P100 is not sensitive to high-level stimulus characteristics such as category membership, but simply to low-level stimulus properties.

    • Early visual cortical responses produced by checkerboard pattern stimulation

      2016, NeuroImage
      Citation Excerpt :

      The technique of choice for recording them has been electroencephalography (EEG) and the results obtained have also been used in more theoretical considerations about how the visual brain functions (Barnikol et al., 2006; Hatanaka et al., 1997; Kaneoke et al., 2005; Luck, 2005; Tobimatsu and Celesia, 2006). Since their discovery (Adrian and Mattews, 1934; Cobb and Dawson, 1960; Monnier, 1949; Spehlmann, 1965), it has been generally supposed that the initial stage of visual processing in cortex starts at around 100 ms after stimulus onset, although earlier latencies, in the 60–80 ms range have been given (Clark et al., 1995; Jeffreys and Axford, 1972a,b). The source of the earliest component of VEPs/VEFs has been usually estimated to be in V1 (Reviewed in Di Russo et al., 2002; Luck, 2005).

    • Psychotextiles and their interaction with the human brain

      2016, Smart Textiles and Their Applications
    • Event-related potentials

      2016, The Curated Reference Collection in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Psychology
    • Processing ordinality and quantity: ERP evidence of separate mechanisms

      2013, Brain and Cognition
      Citation Excerpt :

      Electrophysiologically, regardless of the ratio between the three groups of dots, the amplitude of the ERP wave between 80–130 ms after stimulus onset was modulated by the ordinal information (i.e., ordered vs. non-ordered stimuli) and showed a restricted parietal and lateral occipital distribution. Such timing and scalp distribution lead us to suggest that this early positive component is an ordinal related activation of P1 (Spehlmann, 1965). P1 is typically elicited by external stimuli that are strongly influenced by stimulus parameters, such as luminance, spatial frequency (e.g., Hansen, Jacques, Johnson, & Ellemberg, 2011) or depth (i.e., 2 vs. 3 dimensional stimuli; e.g., Omoto et al., 2010).

    View all citing articles on Scopus

    Abridgement of thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Minnesota in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Physiology. Part of the results has been published in an abstract (Spehlmann 1963).

    This investigation was supported in part by Research Grant NB 03225 from the National Institutes of Health, Public Health Service.

    3

    Present address: VA Research Hospital, 333 E. Huron Street, Chicago, Ill. 60611.

    View full text