Effect of mechanical tactile noise on amplitude of visual evoked potentials: multisensory stochastic resonance

The present investigation documents the electrophysiological occurrence of multisensory stochastic resonance in the human visual pathway elicited by tactile noise. We define multisensory stochastic resonance of brain evoked potentials as the phenomenon in which an intermediate level of input noise o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of neurophysiology 2015-10, Vol.114 (4), p.2132-2143
Main Authors: Méndez-Balbuena, Ignacio, Huidobro, Nayeli, Silva, Mayte, Flores, Amira, Trenado, Carlos, Quintanar, Luis, Arias-Carrión, Oscar, Kristeva, Rumyana, Manjarrez, Elias
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Brain - physiology
Call for Papers
Electroencephalography
Evoked Potentials, Visual - physiology
Female
Humans
Male
Models, Neurological
Physical Stimulation - methods
Stochastic Processes
Touch Perception - physiology
Visual Pathways - physiology
Visual Perception - physiology
Young Adult
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Summary:The present investigation documents the electrophysiological occurrence of multisensory stochastic resonance in the human visual pathway elicited by tactile noise. We define multisensory stochastic resonance of brain evoked potentials as the phenomenon in which an intermediate level of input noise of one sensory modality enhances the brain evoked response of another sensory modality. Here we examined this phenomenon in visual evoked potentials (VEPs) modulated by the addition of tactile noise. Specifically, we examined whether a particular level of mechanical Gaussian noise applied to the index finger can improve the amplitude of the VEP. We compared the amplitude of the positive P100 VEP component between zero noise (ZN), optimal noise (ON), and high mechanical noise (HN). The data disclosed an inverted U-like graph for all the subjects, thus demonstrating the occurrence of a multisensory stochastic resonance in the P100 VEP.
ISSN:0022-3077
1522-1598
DOI:10.1152/jn.00457.2015