Search results for "Stimulus"

2019

Abstract Frequency tagging has been widely used to study the role of visual selective attention. Presenting a visual stimulus flickering at a specific frequency generates so-called steady-state visually evoked responses. However, frequency tagging is mostly done at lower frequencies (

O047. The sound-induced flash illusions reveal visual cortex hyperexcitability in cluster headache

2015

Objectives Pathophysiology of cluster headache (CH) is not wellknown. Although posterior hypothalamus has been suggested to play a pivotal role, evidence exists of a more diffuse involvement of the central nervous system including brainstem and cerebral cortex. In this regard, we recently observed increased motor cortical excitability in episodic CH patients both outside and inside bout [1]. The sound-induced flash illusions (SIFI) represent an example of multisensory integration, and provide a tool to indirectly explore the excitability state of the visual cortex [2]. SIFI are classified as “fission” and “fusion” illusions. When one visual stimulus (flash) is accompanied by two or more aud…

Emotional modulation of the attentional blink and the relation to interpersonal reactivity

2013

The extent of the attentional blink effect on detection rates in rapid serial visual presentations is modulated by the emotionality of the stimuli. Emotionally salient stimuli are detected more often, even if presented in the attentional blink period, and elicit an enlarged P3 response, which has been interpreted as enhanced consolidation. This effect correlates with individual differences in trait affectivity such as anxiety or dysphoria. Here, we ask if it is also related to the capacity to detect emotions in others, i.e., to interpersonal social traits. We therefore presented emotional and neutral images depicting social scenes as targets in an attentional blink design and measured detec…

100 Years of Benham's Top in Colour Science

1995

For 100 years Benham's top has been a popular device demonstrating pattern-induced flicker colours (PIFCs). Results of early and recent investigations on PIFCs are reported and show that the phenomenon originates in phase-sensitive lateral interactions of modulated neural activity in the retina followed by additional spatial interactions in the visual cortex behind the locus of binocular fusion. Colour matches with normal colour stimuli indicate that S/(M + L) opponent neurons are involved. Dichromats do not find matching stimuli for all PIFCs. PIFCs may become useful in medical diagnosis. The phenomenon is interpreted as a side effect of a neural mechanism providing colour constancy under…

Evoked local field potentials can explain temporal variation in blood oxygenation level-dependent responses in rat somatosensory cortex

2010

The aim of this study was to explain the temporal variations between subjects in the blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) response. Somatosensory responses were elicited with the electrical forepaw stimulus at a frequency of 10 Hz in urethane-anesthetized rats, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with BOLD contrast and local field potential (LFP) measurements were performed simultaneously. BOLD fMRI activation was evaluated by two different models, one based on the stimulus paradigm (the block model) and the other on the simultaneously measured evoked LFP responses. In the initial analysis, the LFP model captured the BOLD activation in the primary somatosensory cortex in al…

Automatic auditory and somatosensory brain responses in relation to cognitive abilities and physical fitness in older adults

2017

AbstractIn normal ageing, structural and functional changes in the brain lead to an altered processing of sensory stimuli and to changes in cognitive functions. The link between changes in sensory processing and cognition is not well understood, but physical fitness is suggested to be beneficial for both. We recorded event-related potentials to somatosensory and auditory stimuli in a passive change detection paradigm from 81 older and 38 young women and investigated their associations with cognitive performance. In older adults also associations to physical fitness were studied. The somatosensory mismatch response was attenuated in older adults and it associated with executive functions. So…

Emotion Elicitation: A Comparison of Pictures and Films

2016

Abstract Pictures and film clips are widely used and accepted stimuli to elicit emotions. Based on theoretical arguments it is often assumed that the emotional effects of films exceed those of pictures, but to date this assumption has not been investigated directly. The aim of the present study was to compare pictures and films in terms of their capacity to induce emotions verified by means of explicit measures. Stimuli were (a) single pictures presented for 6 s, (b) a set of three consecutive pictures with emotionally congruent contents presented for 2 s each, (c) short film clips with a duration of 6 s. A total of 144 participants rated their emotion and arousal states following stimulus …

Mismatch negativity (MMN) in freely-moving rats with several experimental controls.

2014

Mismatch negativity (MMN) is a scalp-recorded electrical potential that occurs in humans in response to an auditory stimulus that defies previously established patterns of regularity. MMN amplitude is reduced in people with schizophrenia. In this study, we aimed to develop a robust and replicable rat model of MMN, as a platform for a more thorough understanding of the neurobiology underlying MMN. One of the major concerns for animal models of MMN is whether the rodent brain is capable of producing a human-like MMN, which is not a consequence of neural adaptation to repetitive stimuli. We therefore tested several methods that have been used to control for adaptation and differential exogenou…

Bilateral activations in operculo‐insular area show temporal dissociation after peripheral electrical stimulation in healthy adults

2018

Interhemispheric transfer is necessary for sensory integration and coordination of body sides. We studied how somatosensory input from one body side may reach both body sides. First, we investigated with 17 healthy adults in which uni‐ and bilateral brain areas were involved in consecutive stages of automatic sensory processing of non‐nociceptive peripheral stimulation. Somatosensory evoked fields (SEFs) to electrical stimulation were recorded with 306‐channel magnetoencephalography in two conditions. First, SEFs were registered following sensory radial nerve (RN) stimulation to dorsal surface of the right hand and second, following median nerve (MN) stimulation at the right wrist. Cortical…

Gating Patterns to Proprioceptive Stimulation in Various Cortical Areas : An MEG Study in Children and Adults using Spatial ICA

2020

Proprioceptive paired-stimulus paradigm was used for 30 children (10–17 years) and 21 adult (25–45 years) volunteers in magnetoencephalography (MEG). Their right index finger was moved twice with 500-ms interval every 4 ± 25 s (repeated 100 times) using a pneumatic-movement actuator. Spatial-independent component analysis (ICA) was applied to identify stimulus-related components from MEG cortical responses. Clustering was used to identify spatiotemporally consistent components across subjects. We found a consistent primary response in the primary somatosensory (SI) cortex with similar gating ratios of 0.72 and 0.69 for the children and adults, respectively. Secondary responses with similar …