Steady-state visual evoked potentials to asymmetrical contrast

The temporal frequency components in the steady-state visual evoked response (VEP) depend on the method of stimulus presentation; a first harmonic is generated to "on-off" patterns while a second harmonic occurs to both "on-off" and counterphase patterns. This study examined the VEP response in humans to patterns between these two extremes. In the main experiment, a 1 c/d sinusoidal grating was phase reversed sinusoidally at 8 Hz. The DC offset, however, was adjusted such that two different levels of peak contrast occurred during a temporal cycle. Within this context, a counterphase pattern would represent complete contrast symmetry and an "on-off" pattern would represent maximum contrast asymmetry during a temporal cycle. With this manipulation, the a) integrated luminance change; b) local luminance change; and c) total contrast remained constant. Only mean contrast varied. The amplitude of the first harmonic strongly depended on mean contrast. The amplitude and phase of the second harmonic, however, changed little across experimental conditions suggesting a dependence on one or more of the above three listed stimulus attributes which remained constant. In a supplementary experiment, this phase constancy was confirmed using other temporal frequencies.