title: Steady-state visual evoked potentials in the low frequency range in migraine: a study of habituation and variability phenomena.
abstract: Previous studies have revealed that migraine patients display an increased photic driving to flash stimuli in the medium frequency range. The aim of this study was to perform a topographic analysis of steady-state visual evoked potentials (SVEPs) in the low frequency range (3-9 Hz), evaluating the temporal behaviour of the F1 amplitude by investigating habituation and variability phenomena. The main component of SVEPs, the F1, demonstrated an increased amplitude in several channels at 3 Hz. Behaviour of F1 amplitude was rather variable over time, and the wavelet-transform standard deviation was increased in migraine patients at a low stimulus rate. The discriminative value of the F1 mean amplitude and variability index, tested by both an artificial neural network classifier and a support vector machine, were high according to both methods. The increased photic driving in migraine should be subtended by a more generic abnormality of visual reactivity instead of a selective impairment of a visual subsystem. Temporal behaviour of SVEPs is not influenced by a clear tendency to habituation, but the F1 amplitude seemed to change in a complex way, which is better described by variability phenomena. An increased variability in response to flicker stimuli in migraine patients could be interpreted as an overactive regulation mechanism, prone to instability and consequently to headache attacks, whether spontaneous or triggered.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological and Psychiatric Sciences, University of Bari, Italy. m.detommaso@neurol.uniba.it
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: de Tommaso
authors.forename: Sebastiano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stramaglia
authors.forename: Jan Mathijs
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Schoffelen
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Guido
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Libro
authors.forename: Luciana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Losito
authors.forename: Vittorio
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sciruicchio
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sardaro
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pellicoro
authors.forename: Franco Michele
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Puca
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006185:Habituation, Psychophysiologic / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008881:Migraine Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation