1
|
Assessment of Human Visual Acuity Using Visual Evoked Potential: A Review. SENSORS 2020; 20:s20195542. [PMID: 32998208 PMCID: PMC7582995 DOI: 10.3390/s20195542] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2020] [Revised: 09/16/2020] [Accepted: 09/25/2020] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
Abstract
Visual evoked potential (VEP) has been used as an alternative method to assess visual acuity objectively, especially in non-verbal infants and adults with low intellectual abilities or malingering. By sweeping the spatial frequency of visual stimuli and recording the corresponding VEP, VEP acuity can be defined by analyzing electroencephalography (EEG) signals. This paper presents a review on the VEP-based visual acuity assessment technique, including a brief overview of the technique, the effects of the parameters of visual stimuli, and signal acquisition and analysis of the VEP acuity test, and a summary of the current clinical applications of the technique. Finally, we discuss the current problems in this research domain and potential future work, which may enable this technique to be used more widely and quickly, deepening the VEP and even electrophysiology research on the detection and diagnosis of visual function.
Collapse
|
2
|
The pre-stimulus oscillatory alpha phase affects neural correlates of early visual perception. Neurosci Lett 2018; 685:90-95. [PMID: 30130554 DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2018.08.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2018] [Revised: 07/07/2018] [Accepted: 08/16/2018] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
A growing number of studies suggest the phase of ongoing alpha oscillations in the brain influences visual perception. However, it remained largely unconsidered if this is associated with a phase dependence of neurophysiological processes especially in the visual cortex. Therefore, this study investigated the link between the pre-stimulus oscillatory alpha phase and neural correlates of early visual perception. In 64 subjects a 64-channel EEG system was used to examine the phase dependence of pattern-reversal visual evoked potentials (VEP) in a visual perception experiment. The pre-stimulus oscillatory phase over the primary visual cortex was determined for the individual alpha peak frequency (iAPF) as well as the frequency of maximal phase locking (PLFfmax). The phase dependence of VEP latency was determined using single-trial phase sorting. The results indicate a significantly shorter latency for the N75 and P100 components of the VEP between 40°-100° (p < 0.05) and 90°-120° (p < 0.05), respectively when trials were phase-sorted based on the iAPF. In contrast, the PLFfmax phase did not affect the N75 or P100 latency. The study indicates a link between the pre-stimulus alpha phase and neural correlates of early visual perception. These results extend previous behavioral findings to the neurophysiological level and support current models suggesting visual perception is modulated by ongoing alpha oscillations.
Collapse
|
3
|
Hülsdünker T, Strüder HK, Mierau A. The athletes' visuomotor system - Cortical processes contributing to faster visuomotor reactions. Eur J Sport Sci 2018; 18:955-964. [PMID: 29738678 DOI: 10.1080/17461391.2018.1468484] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Many sports require athletes to rapidly transform visual information into a targeted motor response, a process referred to as visuomotor reaction. On the behavioural level, athletes have long been established to achieve faster simple visuomotor reaction times when compared to non-athletes. However, although the superior performance in athletes has been attributed to the central nervous system, the underlying neural mechanisms remained poorly studied. More recently, a growing number of neurophysiological and neuroimaging studies systematically addressed the functional and structural modulations in the athletes' visual and motor systems as well as their contribution to visuomotor performance. This article reviews current research on structural and functional characteristics of the athletes' cortical visuomotor system associated with simple visuomotor reactions, sports-specific visuomotor performance and visuomotor training. The primary objective is to shed light on the neural mechanisms potentially contributing to superior visuomotor reaction performance in athletes participating in visuomotor demanding disciplines. A more comprehensive understanding of performance-determining neural functions could provide great potential for diagnostics and training to improve athletic performance.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Thorben Hülsdünker
- a Institute of Movement and Neurosciences , German Sport University Cologne , Cologne , Germany.,b Department of Exercise and Sport Science , LUNEX International University of Health, Exercise and Sports , Differdange , Luxembourg
| | - Heiko K Strüder
- a Institute of Movement and Neurosciences , German Sport University Cologne , Cologne , Germany
| | - Andreas Mierau
- a Institute of Movement and Neurosciences , German Sport University Cologne , Cologne , Germany.,b Department of Exercise and Sport Science , LUNEX International University of Health, Exercise and Sports , Differdange , Luxembourg
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Benoliel T, Raz N, Ben-Hur T, Levin N. Cortical functional modifications following optic neuritis. Mult Scler 2016; 23:220-227. [DOI: 10.1177/1352458516649677] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Background: We have recently suggested that delayed visual evoked potential (VEP) latencies in the fellow eye (FE) of optic neuritis patients reflect a cortical adaptive process, to compensate for the delayed arrival of visual information via the affected eye (AE). Objective: To define the cortical mechanism that underlies this adaptive process. Methods: Cortical activations to moving stimuli and connectivity patterns within the visual network were tested using functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in 11 recovered optic neuritis patients and in 11 matched controls. Results: Reduced cortical activation in early but not in higher visual areas was seen in both eyes, compared to controls. VEP latencies in the AEs inversely correlated with activation in motion-related visual cortices. Inter-eye differences in VEP latencies inversely correlated with cortical activation following FE stimulation, throughout the visual hierarchy. Functional correlation between visual regions was more pronounced in the FE compared with the AE. Conclusion: The different correlation patterns between VEP latencies and cortical activation in the AE and FE support different pathophysiology of VEP prolongation in each eye. Similar cortical activation patterns in both eyes and the fact that stronger links between early and higher visual areas were found following FE stimulation suggest a cortical modulatory process in the FE.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tal Benoliel
- fMRI Lab, Neurology Department, Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem Israel
| | - Noa Raz
- fMRI Lab, Neurology Department, Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem Israel
| | - Tamir Ben-Hur
- fMRI Lab, Neurology Department, Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem Israel
| | - Netta Levin
- fMRI Lab, Neurology Department, Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem Israel
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Cacioppo S, Weiss RM, Cacioppo JT. Dynamic spatiotemporal brain analyses of the visual checkerboard task: Similarities and differences between passive and active viewing conditions. Psychophysiology 2016; 53:1496-506. [PMID: 27393016 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.12723] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2015] [Accepted: 06/10/2016] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
We introduce a new analytic technique for the microsegmentation of high-density EEG to identify the discrete brain microstates evoked by the visual reversal checkerboard task. To test the sensitivity of the present analytic approach to differences in evoked brain microstates across experimental conditions, subjects were instructed to (a) passively view the reversals of the checkerboard (passive viewing condition), or (b) actively search for a target stimulus that may appear at the fixation point, and they were offered a monetary reward if they correctly detected the stimulus (active viewing condition). Results revealed that, within the first 168 ms of a checkerboard presentation, the same four brain microstates were evoked in the passive and active viewing conditions, whereas the brain microstates evoked after 168 ms differed between these two conditions, with more brain microstates elicited in the active than in the passive viewing condition. Additionally, distinctions were found in the active condition between a change in a scalp configuration that reflects a change in microstate and a change in scalp configuration that reflects a change in the level of activation of the same microstate. Finally, the bootstrapping procedure identified that two microstates lacked robustness even though statistical significance thresholds were met, suggesting these microstates should be replicated prior to placing weight on their generalizability across individuals. These results illustrate the utility of the analytic approach and provide new information about the spatiotemporal dynamics of the brain states underlying passive and active viewing in the visual checkerboard task.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Stephanie Cacioppo
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, and High-Performance Electrical Neuroimaging Laboratory, Biological Sciences Division, The University of Chicago Prtizker School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
| | - Robin M Weiss
- Research Computing Center, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - John T Cacioppo
- Department of Psychology and Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Kim JT, Yun CM, Kim SW, Oh J, Huh K. The Effects of Alcohol on Visual Evoked Potential and Multifocal Electroretinography. J Korean Med Sci 2016; 31:783-9. [PMID: 27134502 PMCID: PMC4835606 DOI: 10.3346/jkms.2016.31.5.783] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2015] [Accepted: 01/27/2016] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the acute effects of ethanol administration on pattern-reversal visual evoked potential (VEP) and multifocal electroretinography (mfERG). Fifteen healthy subjects with no ocular or general disease were recruited. VEP (0.25° pattern sizes) and mfERG with 19 elements in two recording segments were performed before ethanol administration to obtain baseline for each participant. A few days later, the participants visited again for VEP and mfERG measurements after ethanol administration. Ethanol (0.75 g/kg) was administered orally over the course of 30 minutes. VEP and blood alcohol concentration were evaluated one hour after ethanol administration, and mfERG was conducted after pupil dilation. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare parameter changes after randomized eye selection. The mean blood alcohol concentration was 0.034% ± 0.05% by volume. VEP revealed a P100 latency delay (109.4 ± 5.3; 113.1 ± 8.2; P = 0.008) after alcohol administration. The P1 implicit time of ring 1 on mfERG showed a trend of shortening after alcohol administration (37.9 ± 1.0; 37.2 ± 1.5; P = 0.048). However, the changes did not show statistical significance after Bonferroni correction. In conclusion, orally administrated ethanol (0.75 g/kg) appears to suppress the central nervous system, but it is not clear whether alcohol intake affects the retina.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jee Taek Kim
- Department of Ophthalmology, Chung-Ang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
| | - Cheol Min Yun
- Department of Ophthalmology, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
| | - Seong-Woo Kim
- Department of Ophthalmology, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
| | - Jaeryung Oh
- Department of Ophthalmology, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
| | - Kuhl Huh
- Department of Ophthalmology, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Yadav NK, Ciuffreda KJ. Optimization of the pattern visual evoked potential (VEP) in the visually-normal and mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) populations. Brain Inj 2013; 27:1631-42. [PMID: 24111626 DOI: 10.3109/02699052.2013.844856] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
PRIMARY OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of check size (CS) and contrast (C) on VEP amplitude and latency in visually-normal (VN) and in mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) adults to develop an optimized test protocol in each group. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Subjects were comprised of VN (n = 19) and individuals with mTBI (n = 16). Full-field, pattern VEP testing was employed with three different CSs (10, 20 and 40 min arc) and at two C levels (20 and 85%). RESULTS There was a significant effect of CS and C on the VEP amplitude and latency in both groups. The 20 min arc CS at both contrast levels produced the largest VEP amplitude, in conjunction with normative latency values, in both populations. There was a significant differential effect of CS and C on VEP responses in the visually symptomatic vs. asymptomatic mTBI sub-groups. A significant correlation was found between time since their most recent brain injury and VEP amplitude for the 20 min arc CS at low contrast. CONCLUSIONS Use of the 20 min arc CS at both contrast levels represents an optimized clinical VEP test protocol in both the VN and mTBI groups. This protocol is rapid, high yield, and targeted for each diagnostic group.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Naveen K Yadav
- SUNY State College of Optometry, Department of Biological and Vision Sciences , New York City, NY , USA
| | | |
Collapse
|
8
|
Yamamoto H, Kita Y, Kobayashi T, Yamazaki H, Kaga M, Hoshino H, Hanakawa T, Yamamoto H, Inagaki M. Deficits in Magnocellular Pathway in Developmental Dyslexia: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Electroencephalography Study. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2013. [DOI: 10.4236/jbbs.2013.32017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
|
9
|
da Costa GM, dos Anjos LM, Souza GS, Gomes BD, Saito CA, Pinheiro MDCN, Ventura DF, da Silva Filho M, Silveira LCL. Mercury toxicity in Amazon gold miners: visual dysfunction assessed by retinal and cortical electrophysiology. ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH 2008; 107:98-107. [PMID: 17889848 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2007.08.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2007] [Revised: 06/28/2007] [Accepted: 08/03/2007] [Indexed: 05/17/2023]
Abstract
Amazonian gold mining activity results in human exposure to mercury vapor. We evaluated the visual system of two Amazonian gold miners (29 and 37 years old) by recording the transient pattern electroretinogram (tPERG) and transient pattern visual evoked potential (tPVEP). We compared these results with those obtained from a regional group of control subjects. For both tPERG and tPVEP, checkerboards with 0.5 or 2 cycles per degree (cpd) of spatial frequency were presented in a 16 degrees squared area, 100% Michelson contrast, 50cd/m2 mean luminance, and 1 Hz square-wave pattern-reversal presentation. Two averaged waveforms (n=240 sweeps, 1s each) were monocularly obtained for each subject in each condition. Both eyes were monocularly tested only in gold miners. Normative data were calculated using a final pooled waveform with 480 sweeps. The first gold miner, LCS, had normal tPERG responses. The second one, RNP, showed low tPERG (P50 component) amplitudes at 0.5 cpd for both eyes, outside the normative data, and absence of response at 2 cpd for his right eye. Delayed tPVEP responses (P100 component) were found at 2 cpd for LCS but the implicit times were inside the normative data. Subject RNP also showed delayed tPVEP responses (all components), but only the implicit time obtained with his right eye was outside the normative data at 2 cpd. We conclude that mercury exposure levels found in the Amazon gold miners is high enough to damage the visual system and can be assessed by non-invasive electrophysiological techniques.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Genilma M da Costa
- Departamento de Fisiologia, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, Pará, Brazil
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
10
|
Barnikol UB, Amunts K, Dammers J, Mohlberg H, Fieseler T, Malikovic A, Zilles K, Niedeggen M, Tass PA. Pattern reversal visual evoked responses of V1/V2 and V5/MT as revealed by MEG combined with probabilistic cytoarchitectonic maps. Neuroimage 2006; 31:86-108. [PMID: 16480895 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.11.045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2005] [Revised: 10/11/2005] [Accepted: 11/14/2005] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Pattern reversal stimulation provides an established tool for assessing the integrity of the visual pathway and for studying early visual processing. Numerous magnetoencephalographic (MEG) and electroencephalographic (EEG) studies have revealed a three-phasic waveform of the averaged pattern reversal visual evoked potential/magnetic field, with components N75(m), P100(m), and N145(m). However, the anatomical assignment of these components to distinct cortical generators is still a matter of debate, which has inter alia connected with considerable interindividual variations of the human striate and extrastriate cortex. The anatomical variability can be compensated for by means of probabilistic cytoarchitectonic maps, which are three-dimensional maps obtained by an observer-independent statistical mapping in a sample of ten postmortem brains. Transformed onto a subject's brain under consideration, these maps provide the probability with which a given voxel of the subject's brain belongs to a particular cytoarchitectonic area. We optimize the spatial selectivity of the probability maps for V1 and V2 with a probability threshold which optimizes the self- vs. cross-overlap in the population of postmortem brains used for deriving the probabilistic cytoarchitectonic maps. For the first time, we use probabilistic cytoarchitectonic maps of visual cortical areas in order to anatomically identify active cortical generators underlying pattern reversal visual evoked magnetic fields as revealed by MEG. The generators are determined with magnetic field tomography (MFT), which reconstructs the current source density in each voxel. In all seven subjects, our approach reveals generators in V1/V2 (with a greater overlap with V1) and in V5 unilaterally (right V5 in three subjects, left V5 in four subjects) and consistent time courses of their stimulus-locked activations, with three peak activations in V1/V2 (contributing to C1m/N75m, P100m, and N145m) and two peak activations in V5 (contributing to P100m and N145m). The reverberating V1/V2 and V5 activations demonstrate the effect of recurrent activation mechanisms including V1 and extrastriate areas and/or corticofugal feedback loops. Our results demonstrate that the combined investigation of MEG signals with MFT and probabilistic cytoarchitectonic maps significantly improves the anatomical identification of active brain areas.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Utako B Barnikol
- Institute of Medicine, Research Center Juelich, D-52425 Jülich, Germany
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
11
|
Tobimatsu S, Celesia GG. Studies of human visual pathophysiology with visual evoked potentials. Clin Neurophysiol 2006; 117:1414-33. [PMID: 16516551 DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2006.01.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 110] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2005] [Revised: 12/28/2005] [Accepted: 01/11/2006] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Visual evoked potentials (VEPs) offer reproducible and quantitative data on the function of the visual pathways and the visual cortex. Pattern reversal VEPs to full-field stimulation are best suited to evaluate anterior visual pathways while hemi-field stimulation is most effective in the assessment of post-chiasmal function. However, visual information is processed simultaneously via multiple parallel channels and each channel constitutes a set of sequential processes. We outline the major parallel pathways of the visual system from the retina to the primary visual cortex and higher visual areas via lateral geniculate nucleus that receive visual input. There is no best method of stimulus selection, rather visual stimuli and VEPs' recording should be tailored to answer specific clinical and/or research questions. Newly developed techniques that can assess the functions of extrastriate as well as striate cortices are discussed. Finally, an algorithm of sequential steps to evaluate the various levels of visual processing is proposed and its clinical use revisited.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Shozo Tobimatsu
- Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Neurological Institute, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-Ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan.
| | | |
Collapse
|
12
|
Di Russo F, Pitzalis S, Spitoni G, Aprile T, Patria F, Spinelli D, Hillyard SA. Identification of the neural sources of the pattern-reversal VEP. Neuroimage 2005; 24:874-86. [PMID: 15652322 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2004.09.029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 197] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2004] [Revised: 09/15/2004] [Accepted: 09/21/2004] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
This study aimed to characterize the neural generators of the early components of the visual-evoked potential (VEP) to pattern-reversal gratings. Multichannel scalp recordings of VEPs and dipole modeling techniques were combined with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and retinotopic mapping in order to estimate the locations of the cortical sources giving rise to VEP components in the first 200 ms poststimulus. Dipole locations were seeded to visual cortical areas in which fMRI activations were elicited by the same stimuli. The results provide strong evidence that the first major component of the VEP elicited by a pattern-reversal stimulus (N75/P85) arises from surface-negative activity in the primary visual cortex (area V1). Subsequent waveform components could be accounted for by dipoles that were in close proximity to fMRI activations in the following cortical areas: P95 (area MT/V5), P125/N135 (area V1), N150 (transverse parietal sulcus, TPS), N160 (ventral occipital areas VP, V4v, and V4/V8), and N180 (dorsal occipital areas V3A/V7). These results provide a detailed spatiotemporal profile of the cortical origins of the pattern-reversal VEP, which should enhance its utility in both clinical and basic studies of visual-perceptual processing.
Collapse
|