Improving Visual Sensitivity with Subthreshold Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
Improving Visual Sensitivity with Subthreshold Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
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DOI：
10.1523/jneurosci.6256-10.2011
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发表时间：
2011-03-02
影响因子：
5.3
通讯作者：
Harris, Justin A.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Abrahamyan, Arman;Clifford, Colin W. G.;Harris, Justin A.
我们探讨了使用经颅磁刺激（TMS）改善人类受试者的视觉敏感性。对视觉皮层的刺激可以引起一种被称为光幻视的错觉。众所周知，以高于阈值的强度传递的经颅磁刺激会诱发光幻视，损害对视觉刺激的检测。我们研究了在光幻视阈值或低于阈值时，经颅磁刺激如何影响视觉皮层对简单视觉刺激的检测。参与者执行检测任务，而视觉刺激的对比根据自适应阶梯程序在不同的试验中有所不同。在刺激开始后100或120毫秒，以低于光幻视阈值的强度向对侧视觉皮层传递单脉冲颅磁刺激时，刺激的检测增强。当TMS应用于对半球（视觉刺激的同侧）的视觉皮层时，没有观察到视觉敏感性的改善。我们认为，经颅磁刺激诱导的神经元活动可以与刺激诱发的活动相结合，从而增强视觉感知。
We probed for improvement of visual sensitivity in human participants using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Stimulation of visual cortex can induce an illusory visual percept known as a phosphene. It is known that TMS, delivered at intensities above the threshold to induce phosphenes, impairs the detection of visual stimuli. We investigated how the detection of a simple visual stimulus is affected by TMS applied to visual cortex at or below the phosphene threshold. Participants performed the detection task while the contrast of the visual stimulus was varied from trial to trial according to an adaptive staircase procedure. Detection of the stimulus was enhanced when a single pulse of TMS was delivered to the contralateral visual cortex 100 or 120 ms after stimulus onset at intensities just below the phosphene threshold. No improvement in visual sensitivity was observed when TMS was applied to the visual cortex in the opposite hemisphere (ipsilateral to the visual stimulus). We conclude that TMS-induced neuronal activity can sum with stimulus-evoked activity to augment visual perception.