Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Dynamics in typewriting performance reflect mental fatigue during real-life office work.

PloS one·2020

Same author

Split-Brain: What We Know Now and Why This is Important for Understanding Consciousness.

Neuropsychology review·2020

Same author

Visual Functions Generating Conscious Seeing.

Frontiers in psychology·2020

Same author

Scene complexity modulates degree of feedback activity during object detection in natural scenes.

PLoS computational biology·2019

Same author

Challenges for theories of consciousness: seeing or knowing, the missing ingredient and how to deal with panpsychism.

Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences·2018

Same author

Age Modulates the Effects of Mental Fatigue on Typewriting.

Frontiers in psychology·2018

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 9, 2026

Extracting Visual Evoked Potentials from EEG Data Recorded During fMRI-guided Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Extracting Visual Evoked Potentials from EEG Data Recorded During fMRI-guided Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Published on: May 12, 2014

Transcranial magnetic stimulation-induced 'visual echoes' are generated in early visual cortex.

Jacob Jolij¹, Victor A F Lamme

¹Department of Psychology, Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences, University of Groningen, Netherlands. j.jolij@rug.nl

Neuroscience Letters

|August 25, 2010

Summary

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) can create phosphenes, which are perceived light flashes. We found that TMS can induce "visual echoes" that mimic real stimuli, demonstrating active brain interpretation of neural activity.

More Related Videos

A Novel Approach for Documenting Phosphenes Induced by Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

A Novel Approach for Documenting Phosphenes Induced by Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Published on: April 1, 2010

Electromagnetic Source Imaging in Presurgical Evaluation of Children with Drug-Resistant Epilepsy

Electromagnetic Source Imaging in Presurgical Evaluation of Children with Drug-Resistant Epilepsy

Published on: September 20, 2024

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 9, 2026

Extracting Visual Evoked Potentials from EEG Data Recorded During fMRI-guided Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Extracting Visual Evoked Potentials from EEG Data Recorded During fMRI-guided Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Published on: May 12, 2014

A Novel Approach for Documenting Phosphenes Induced by Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

A Novel Approach for Documenting Phosphenes Induced by Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Published on: April 1, 2010

Electromagnetic Source Imaging in Presurgical Evaluation of Children with Drug-Resistant Epilepsy

Electromagnetic Source Imaging in Presurgical Evaluation of Children with Drug-Resistant Epilepsy

Published on: September 20, 2024

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Visual Perception
Cognitive Science

Background:

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) applied to early visual areas elicits phosphenes, perceived as light flashes.
Previous research indicates TMS can activate neural pathways, but the precise nature of induced perceptions is under investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if brief visual stimuli can modulate TMS-induced phosphenes.
To explore the characteristics and neural basis of TMS-modulated phosphenes, termed 'visual echoes'.
To determine if these 'visual echoes' are processed as actual stimuli by the brain.

Main Methods:

Utilized transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) on early visual areas.
Presented brief visual stimuli prior to TMS to observe modulation effects.
Analyzed contextual modulation of TMS-induced phosphenes (visual echoes).

Main Results:

A brief preceding stimulus modulated TMS-induced phosphenes, creating 'visual echoes'.
Participants perceived these 'visual echoes' as real stimuli.
Contextual modulation of echoes confirmed generation in early visual areas and processing as factual stimuli.

Conclusions:

TMS can re-activate weak visual representations in early visual areas.
Perception of visual echoes involves active interpretation of neural noise and cortical state, not just passive reactivation.
This highlights the brain's active role in constructing visual reality.