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Updated: Aug 18, 2026

Analyzing Neural Activity and Connectivity Using Intracranial EEG Data with SPM Software
Published on: October 30, 2018
The many faces of the gamma band response to complex visual stimuli
Jean-Philippe Lachaux1, Nathalie George, Catherine Tallon-Baudry
1Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives et Imagerie Cérébrale (LENA), CNRS URA 654, Hôpital de La Salpêtrière, 47 Bd de l'Hôpital, 75651 Paris cedex 13 Paris, France. lachaux@lyon.inserm.fr
Abstract:
While much is known about the functional architecture of the visual system, little is known about its large-scale dynamics during perception. This study describes this dynamics with a high spatial, temporal and spectral resolution. We recorded depth EEG of epileptic patients performing a face detection task and found that the stimuli induced strong modulations in the gamma band (40 Hz to 200 Hz) in selective occipital, parietal and temporal sites, in particular the fusiform gyrus, the lateral occipital gyrus and the intra-parietal sulcus. Occipito-temporal sites were the first to be activated, closely followed by the parietal sites, while portions of the primary visual cortex seemed to deactivate temporarily. Some of those effects were found to be correlated across distant sites, suggesting that a coordinated balance between regional gamma activations and deactivations could be involved during visual perception.
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