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Updated: Aug 13, 2026
Stimulus-specific Cortical Visual Evoked Potential Morphological Patterns
Published on: May 12, 2019
Periventricular leukomalacia specifically affects cortical MEG response to biological motion
Marina Pavlova1, Fabio Marconato, Alexander Sokolov
1Department of Paediatric Neurology and Child Development, Children's Hospital, University of Tübingen Medical School, Tübingen, Germany. marina.pavlova@uni-tuebingen.de
Objective:
Periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) underlies most of the neurological morbidity including visual-perceptual deficits in survivors of premature birth. However, it is unknown whether and, if so, how PVL affects functional cortical activity.
Methods:
Here, we assessed changes in the magnetoencephalographic (MEG) response to visual displays depicting human locomotion in adolescents who were born premature with magnetic resonance imaging signs of PVL.
Results:
Dynamics of MEG activity parallel behavioral deficits. Early (140-170 milliseconds) brain activation over the right parietal cortex was weaker in patients compared with term-born controls.
Interpretation:
This is the first evidence for stimulus-specific modulation of cortical activity by periventricular lesions providing new insights into the functional pathology of PVL.
