Induction of orientation-specific LTP-like changes in human visual evoked potentials by rapid sensory stimulation

Robert M. Ross*, Nicolas A. McNair, Scott L. Fairhall, Wesley C. Clapp, Jeff P. Hamm, Tim J. Teyler, Ian J. Kirk

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

55 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Recent research suggests that rapid visual stimulation can induce long-term potentiation-like effects non-invasively in humans. However, to date, this research has provided only limited evidence for input-specificity, a fundamental property of cellular long-term potentiation. In the present study we extend the evidence for input-specificity by investigating the effect of stimulus orientation. We use sine wave gratings of two different orientations to show that rapid visual stimulation can induce orientation-specific potentiation, as indexed by changes in the amplitude of a late phase of the N1 complex of the visual-evoked potential. This result suggests that discrete populations of orientation-tuned neurons can be selectively potentiated by rapid visual stimulation. Furthermore, our results support earlier studies that have suggested that the locus of potentiation induced by rapid visual stimulation is visual cortex.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)97-101
Number of pages5
JournalBrain Research Bulletin
Volume76
Issue number1-2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 May 2008
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Electroencephalography (EEG)
  • Human
  • Long-term potentiation (LTP)
  • Orientation
  • Sensory stimulation
  • Visual cortex
  • Visual evoked potential (VEP)

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