Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 14, 2026
Objectively Assessing Sports Concussion Utilizing Visual Evoked Potentials
Published on: April 27, 2021
Selective Attention Deficits in Mild Traumatic Brain Injury using Steady-State Visual Evoked Potentials; Neural
Amir Norouzpour1, Jennifer X Haensel1, Minyoung Lee2
1Spencer Center for Vision Research, Byers Eye Institute, Stanford University, United States of America.
Objective:
To objectively quantify visuospatial selective and divided attention using steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) in adults with persistent visual symptoms after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI).
Methods:
Eighteen adults with mTBI (40-350 days post-mTBI) and 27 healthy controls participated. Frequency-tagged SSVEPs to eccentric flickering stimuli along with concurrent behavioral yes/no contrast-decrement-detection task were recorded under three cued covert spatial attention conditions: Selective Attention (SelAtt), Divided Attention (DivAtt), and Ignore. EEG epochs associated with eye fixation loss were excluded using two independent procedures: automated EEG artifact-rejection algorithms and concurrent EyeLink eye-tracking data.
Results:
The mTBI group showed no significant change in task accuracy and complex-value SSVEP responses across attentional conditions (P > 0.05). In contrast, controls showed significant improvements in task accuracy (P < 0.001) and significant SSVEP modulations across conditions (P = 0.03), with stronger SSVEP during SelAtt compared with Ignore (P = 0.008). SelAtt SSVEPs in mTBI were significantly weaker than controls (P = 0.04). Unlike mTBI, control SSVEP amplitude and inter-trial phase coherence (ITPC) significantly increased across conditions (P = 0.02 and < 0.001, respectively). Both groups did not show any significant modulation in SSVEP phase across attentional conditions (P > 0.05). The significant ITPC-amplitude correlation within each group (P < 0.001) was associated with attention status, whereby SelAtt was associated with higher neural ITPC-amplitude response.
Conclusions:
These findings indicate impaired visuospatial selective attention in adults with persistent post-mTBI visual symptoms. Our results support neural synchronization theory on population-level neural correlates of attention and suggest impaired synchronization may underlie attention deficits in mTBI.
Significance:
SSVEP provides objective neurophysiological indices of attentional processing in mTBI.
More Related Videos
09:37Measurement of Neurophysiological Signals of Ignoring and Attending Processes in Attention Control
Published on: July 5, 2015
06:46Investigating the Deployment of Visual Attention Before Accurate and Averaging Saccades via Eye Tracking and Assessment of Visual Sensitivity
Published on: March 18, 2019