Steady-state VEP responses to uncomfortable stimuli

O'Hare, L ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0331-3646, 2017. Steady-state VEP responses to uncomfortable stimuli. European Journal of Neuroscience, 45 (3), pp. 410-422. ISSN 0953-816X

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Abstract

Periodic stimuli, such as op-art, can evoke a range of aversive sensations included in the term visual discomfort. Illusory motion effects are elicited by fixational eye movements, but the cortex might also contribute to effects of discomfort. To investigate this possibility, steady-state visually-evoked responses (SSVEPs) to contrast-matched op-art-based stimuli were measured at the same time as discomfort judgements. On average, discomfort reduced with increasing spatial frequency of the pattern. By contrast, the peak amplitude of the SSVEP response was around the midrange spatial frequencies. Like the discomfort judgements, SSVEP responses to the highest spatial frequencies were lowest amplitude, but the relationship breaks down between discomfort and SSVEP for the lower spatial frequency stimuli. This was not explicable by gross eye movements as measured using the facial electrodes. There was a weak relationship between the peak SSVEP responses and discomfort judgements for some stimuli, suggesting that discomfort can be explained in part by electrophysiological responses measured at the level of the cortex. However there is a breakdown of this relationship in the case of lower spatial frequency stimuli, which remains unexplained.

Item Type: Journal article
Publication Title: European Journal of Neuroscience
Creators: O'Hare, L.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 5 February 2017
Volume: 45
Number: 3
ISSN: 0953-816X
Identifiers:
Number
Type
10.1111/ejn.13479
DOI
1372273
Other
Divisions: Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by: Linda Sullivan
Date Added: 06 Oct 2020 10:56
Last Modified: 31 May 2021 15:13
URI: https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/41171

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