ERPs in an oddball task under vection-inducing visual stimulation

The neural mechanisms underlying the vection illusion are not fully understood. A few studies have analyzed visually evoked potentials or event-related potentials (ERPs) when participants were exposed to vection-inducing stimulation. However, none of them tested how such stimulation influences the brain activity during performance of the simultaneous visual task. In the present study, ERPs were recorded while subjects (N = 19) performed a discrimination oddball task. Two stimuli (O or X) were presented on the background of central and peripheral visual fields consisting of altered black and white vertical stripes that were stationary or moving horizontally. Three different combinations of these fields were created: (1) both center and periphery stationary (control condition), (2) both center and periphery moving, (3) center stationary and periphery moving. Mean reaction times to targets were shortest in the control condition. The amplitudes of P1 and N2 at occipital locations, and the amplitude of P3 at frontal, central, and parietal locations, were attenuated, and the P3 exhibited longer peak latency when both central and peripheral visual fields were moving. These potentials reflect initial sensory processing and the degree of attention required for processing visual stimuli and performing the task. Our findings suggest that the integration of central and peripheral moving visual fields enhances the vection illusion and slows down reaction times to targets in the oddball task and disrupts the magnitude of electrophysiological responses to targets.