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On The Nature of Visual Evoked Potentials, Unit Responses and Psychophysics

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From Pigments to Perception

Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((NSSA,volume 203))

Abstract

There are two main electrophysiological measures of visual cortical responses: frequency of action potentials (spikes) and amplitude of slow potentials. Spikes are recorded with a microelectrode from single units, or groups of units. Slow field potentials (FP) can be recorded by the same microelectrode, or with another (local) macroelectrode. Another type of recording, occipital visual evoked potential (VEP), reflects global cortical activity and can be used in human as well as animal experiments. Although each of these electrophysiological responses is a different measure of visual cortical activity, and may reflect different neural processes (thereby providing complementary information about the visual system), all of them can be shown to have a general link with psychophysical thresholds, provided that visual stimuli are suitably chosen.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Visual Sciences Laboratory, University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 88, Manchester, UK, M60 1QD

    J. J. Kulikowski

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  1. J. J. Kulikowski
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Arne Valberg

  2. Max-Planck-Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Gottingen, Germany

    Barry B. Lee

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Kulikowski, J.J. (1991). On The Nature of Visual Evoked Potentials, Unit Responses and Psychophysics. In: Valberg, A., Lee, B.B. (eds) From Pigments to Perception. NATO ASI Series, vol 203. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-3718-2_25

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-3718-2_25

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-6654-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-3718-2

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