Steady-state visual evoked responses in high and low alpha subjects.

Reactivity to photic stimulation was studied in 16 subjects who were divided into 2 groups based on the relative amounts of spontaneous EEG alpha produced during a 4 min eyes-closed baseline condition. During the experimental session the subjects were presented with thirteen 1 min periods of sinusoidally modulated light stimulation at frequencies ranging from 2 Hz below their spontaneous peak alpha frequency (SPAF) to 2 Hz above in 0.33 Hz intervals. Using FFTs, steady-state visual evoked responses (VERs) were extracted from each subject's EEG for each condition. VER magnitude for high alpha subjects varied with the proximity of the stimulus frequency to the SPAF, the VER for low alpha subjects did not. Conversely, low alpha subjects showed a similar effect in side-band alpha activity (once the VER had been extracted) whereas high alpha subjects did not. The results are explained in terms of a possible difference in the coupling strength between thalamic and cortical alpha sources.

[1]  D. Lindsley,et al.  Chapter 1 – The Electroencephalogram: Autonomous Electrical Activity in Man and Animals , 1974 .

[2]  The alpha rhythm. , 1978 .

[3]  M. Osaka,et al.  Peak alpha frequency of EEG during a mental task: task difficulty and hemispheric differences. , 1984, Psychophysiology.

[4]  J. Stern,et al.  Brain responses to sine wave modulated light (SML): reliability and relationship to spontaneous EEG. , 1986, The International journal of neuroscience.

[5]  Jeannine Herron,et al.  Differential right hemisphere engagement in visuospatial tasks , 1980, Neuropsychologia.

[6]  S. Andersson,et al.  Physiological basis of the alpha rhythm , 1968 .

[7]  Steady‐State Visual Evoked Response Amplitudes and Concurrent Electroencephalographic Activity , 1985, American journal of optometry and physiological optics.

[8]  F. H. Lopes da Silva,et al.  Relative contributions of intracortical and thalamo-cortical processes in the generation of alpha rhythms, revealed by partial coherence analysis. , 1980, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[9]  D. Regan Some characteristics of average steady-state and transient responses evoked by modulated light. , 1966, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[10]  D Becker,et al.  Peak centred power spectra: a successful attempt to calculate efficient parameters in the alpha range of EEG. , 1981, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[11]  M. Brandt,et al.  Pre-stimulus spectral EEG patterns and the visual evoked response. , 1991, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[12]  P. Nunez,et al.  Electric fields of the brain , 1981 .

[13]  O Eeg-Olofsson,et al.  The Development of the Electroencephalogram in Normal Children from the Age of 1 Through 15 Years – Paroxysmal activity , 1971, Neuropadiatrie.

[14]  D. Regan,et al.  Evoked potentials in vision research 1961–1986 , 1986, Vision Research.

[15]  L. H. Van Der Tweel,et al.  HUMAN VISUAL RESPONSES TO SINUSOIDALLY MODULATED LIGHT. , 1965, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[16]  W. R. Klemm,et al.  Differences among humans in steady-state evoked potentials: Evaluation of alpha activity, attentiveness and cognitive awareness of perceptual effectiveness , 1982, Neuropsychologia.

[17]  J. E. Fagan,et al.  Factors Contributing to Amplitude Variability of the Steady‐State Visual Evoked Response , 1984, American journal of optometry and physiological optics.

[18]  J. Doyle,et al.  EEG patterns during 'cognitive' tasks. II. Analysis of controlled tasks. , 1979, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[19]  P Naitoh,et al.  Stabilization of alpha frequency by sinusoidally modulated light. , 1975, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[20]  D Regan,et al.  Chromatic adaptation and steady-state evoked potentials. , 1968, Vision research.

[21]  F. D. da Silva,et al.  Organization of thalamic and cortical alpha rhythms: spectra and coherences. , 1973, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[22]  J. Doyle,et al.  Electroencephalogram correlates of higher cortical functions. , 1979, Science.

[23]  R. G. Allen,et al.  Hemispheric lateralization and handedness correlation of human evoked “steady-state” responses to patterned visual stimuli , 1980 .

[24]  A I Fedotchev,et al.  Stability of resonance EEG reactions to flickering light in humans. , 1990, International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology.

[25]  R. Ornstein,et al.  Sex and handedness differences in EEG measures of hemispheric specialization , 1982, Brain and Language.

[26]  M. Brandt,et al.  The effect of the phase of prestimulus alpha activity on the averaged visual evoked response. , 1991, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[27]  Ross Pigeau,et al.  The Effect of Endogenous Alpha on Hemispheric Asymmetries and the Relationship of Frontal Theta to Sustained Attention , 1988 .

[28]  D. Regan Human brain electrophysiology: Evoked potentials and evoked magnetic fields in science and medicine , 1989 .

[29]  J Volavka,et al.  Effects of caffeine on resting EEG and response to sine wave modulated light. , 1981, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.