MEG recording from the human ventro-occipital cortex in response to isoluminant color stimulation

In contrast to PET and fMRI studies, color-selective responses from the ventro-occipital area have rarely been reported in MEG studies. We tried to minimize the stimulation to all areas in the visual system except the color-processing ones by using a color space based on psychophysical and physiological knowledge in order to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio for MEG responses from the ventro-occipital area. MEG obtained from long intermittent reversals (2.0-3.5 s) of isoluminant chromatic gratings showed two major peaks at the latencies of approximately 100 and 150 ms. The estimated location of the equivalent-current dipole for response at 100-ms latency was in the calcarine sulcus and that of the dipole for the response at 150 ms was in the collateral sulcus in the ventro-occipital area. The response around 150 ms was uniquely observed in MEG elicited by chromatic reversals. The average of lags between MEG responses from the calcarine sulcus and ventro-occipital area was 43 ms, which suggests sequential processing of color information across the visual cortices.