Moore Damien, Ikuta Toshikazu, Loprinzi Paul D
Exercise & Memory Laboratory, Department of Health, Exercise Science and Recreation Management, The University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677, USA.
Digital Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, The University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677, USA.
J Clin Med. 2020 Sep 2;9(9):2837. doi: 10.3390/jcm9092837.
Sensory systems are widely known to exhibit adaptive mechanisms. Vision is no exception to input dependent changes in its sensitivity. Recent animal work demonstrates enhanced connectivity between neurons in the visual cortex. The purpose of the present experiment was to evaluate a human model that noninvasively alters the amplitude of the N1b component in the visual cortex of humans by means of rapid visual stimulation. Nineteen participants (M = 24 years; 52.6% male) completed a rapid visual stimulation paradigm involving black and white reversal checkerboards presented bilaterally in the visual field. EEG data was collected during the visual stimulation paradigm, which consisted of four main phases, a pre-tetanus block, photic stimulus, early post-tetanus, and late post-tetanus. The amplitude of the N1b component of the pre-tetanus, early post-tetanus and late post-tetanus visual evoked potentials were calculated. Change in N1b amplitude was calculated by subtracting pre-tetanus N1b amplitude from early and late post-tetanus. Results demonstrated a significant difference between pre-tetanus N1b (M = -0.498 µV, SD = 0.858) and early N1b (M = -1.011 µV, SD = 1.088), (18) = 2.761, = 0.039, d = 0.633. No difference was observed between pre-tetanus N1b and late N1b ( = 0.36). In conclusion, our findings suggest that it is possible to induce changes in the amplitude of the visually evoked potential N1b waveform in the visual cortex of humans non-invasively. Additional work is needed to corroborate that the potentiation of the N1b component observed in this study is due to similar mechanisms essential to prolonged strengthened neural connections exhibited in cognitive structures of the brain observed in prior animal research. If so, this will allow for the examination of strengthened neural connectivity and its interaction with multiple human sensory stimuli and behaviors.
众所周知，感觉系统具有适应性机制。视觉也不例外，其敏感性会随输入而变化。最近的动物研究表明，视觉皮层中神经元之间的连接性增强。本实验的目的是评估一种人体模型，该模型通过快速视觉刺激以非侵入性方式改变人类视觉皮层中N1b成分的振幅。19名参与者（平均年龄24岁；52.6%为男性）完成了一种快速视觉刺激范式，该范式涉及在视野双侧呈现黑白反转棋盘格。在视觉刺激范式期间收集脑电图数据，该范式包括四个主要阶段：强直前阻断、光刺激、强直后早期和强直后晚期。计算强直前、强直后早期和强直后晚期视觉诱发电位的N1b成分的振幅。通过用强直后早期和晚期的N1b振幅减去强直前的N1b振幅来计算N1b振幅的变化。结果表明，强直前N1b（平均=-0.498微伏，标准差=0.858）和早期N1b（平均=-1.011微伏，标准差=1.088）之间存在显著差异，t(18)=2.761，p=0.039，d=0.633。强直前N1b和晚期N1b之间未观察到差异（p=0.36）。总之，我们的研究结果表明，有可能以非侵入性方式在人类视觉皮层中诱导视觉诱发电位N1b波形的振幅变化。需要进一步的研究来证实本研究中观察到的N1b成分的增强是由于与先前动物研究中在大脑认知结构中观察到的延长强化神经连接所必需的类似机制。如果是这样，这将有助于研究强化的神经连接及其与多种人类感觉刺激和行为的相互作用。
