Entrainment of visual steady-state responses is modulated by global spatial statistics

The rhythmic delivery of visual stimuli evokes large-scale neuronal entrainment in the form of steady-state oscillatory field potentials. The spatiotemporal properties of stimulus drive appear to constrain the relative degrees of neuronal entrainment. Specific frequency ranges, for example, are uniquely suited for enhancing the strength of stimulus-driven brain oscillations. When it comes to the nature of the visual stimulus itself, studies have used a plethora of inputs ranging from spatially unstructured empty fields to simple contrast patterns (checkerboards, gratings, stripes) and complex arrays (human faces, houses, natural scenes). At present, little is known about how the global spatial statistics of the input stimulus influence entrainment of scalp-recorded electrophysiological signals. In this study, we used rhythmic entrainment source separation of scalp EEG to compare stimulus-driven phase alignment for distinct classes of visual inputs, including broadband spatial noise ensembles with varying second-order statistics, natural scenes, and narrowband sine-wave gratings delivered at a constant flicker frequency. The relative magnitude of visual entrainment was modulated by the global properties of the driving stimulus. Entrainment was strongest for pseudo-naturalistic broadband visual noise patterns in which luminance contrast is greatest at low spatial frequencies (a power spectrum slope characterized by 1/ƒ^-2).NEW & NOTEWORTHY Rhythmically modulated visual stimuli entrain the activity of neuronal populations, but the effect of global stimulus statistics on this entrainment is unknown. We assessed entrainment evoked by 1) visual noise ensembles with different spectral slopes, 2) complex natural scenes, and 3) narrowband sinusoidal gratings. Entrainment was most effective for broadband noise with naturalistic luminance contrast. This reveals some global properties shaping stimulus-driven brain oscillations in the human visual system.