Dependence of the Parameters of Visual Evoked Potentials on the Parameters of a Complex Visual Stimulus (Tests on Humans)

We recorded visual evoked potentials, VEP, elicited by presentation of a reversal chess pattern; 35 healthy persons were examined. A recording electrode was in point Oz, according to the 10-20 system; dimensions of the chess pattern square fields and their contrast varied from 1.8 to 120 and from 2 to 100%, respectively. Peak latencies, PL, of the N75 component depended on the contrast of stimulus elements in a U-like manner with the minimum within a 20-25% range. The PL of the P100 component monotonically increased with a decrease in the contrast, while the dependence of the PL of N145 was complex: a trend toward a decrease with a decrease in contrast to 30%, a local maximum in about 25%, a decrease and stabilization within a 15-4% range, and a sharp increase at the minimum contrast. The amplitude of N75 decreased with decrease in contrast down to 20-25% and then stabilized; the amplitude of P100 decreased in an S-like mode, with a plateau within 25-4%. The dependence of the N145 amplitude was complex, with a plateau-like maximum at 30-15% contrast. The amplitudes of the negative VEP components, N75 and N145, increased with an increase in the square dimensions to 7.5 and then decreased. Changes in the P100 amplitude included two phases, with a local minimum within an angular dimension range of 30-15^O. The PL of all analyzed components in general increased with a decrease in the angular dimension of the pattern components. The above data are discussed considering concepts on the genesis of different VEP components and on the existence of specialized channels in the visual system, which are responsible for detection of different parameters of a visual object. The complex dynamics of the PL of the analyzed VEP components and of the P100 amplitude related to variation of the contrast and angular dimensions of the elements of a complex stimulus are considered to be determined by a module principle of the organization of the elements constituting different levels of the visual system and by transformations of the receptive fields of these elements on the level of cortical modules, which are related to changes in the stimulus parameters.