Single-trial EEG analysis reveals burst structure during photic driving

Abstract

Objective: Photic driving in the human visual cortex evoked by intermittent photic stimulation is usually characterized in averaged data by an ongoing oscillation showing frequency entrainment and resonance phenomena during the course of stimulation. We challenge this view of an ongoing oscillation by analyzing unaveraged data.

Methods: 64-channel EEGs were recorded during visual stimulation with light flashes at eight stimulation frequencies between 7.8 and 23 Hz for fourteen healthy volunteers. Time-frequency analyses were performed in averaged and unaveraged data.

Results: While we find ongoing oscillations in the averaged data during intermittent photic stimulation, we find transient events (bursts) of activity in the unaveraged data. Both resonance and entrainment occur for the ongoing oscillations in the averaged data and the bursts in the unaveraged data.

Conclusions: We argue that the continuous oscillations in the averaged signal may be composed of brief, transient bursts in single trials. Our results can also explain previously observed amplitude fluctuations in averaged photic driving data.

Significance: Single-trial analyses might consequently improve our understanding of resonance and entrainment phenomena in the brain.

Keywords: Alpha rhythm; Brain waves; Cortical synchronization; Photic stimulation; Visual cortex.