Elucidating the spatiotemporal dynamics of the EEG is crucial for applying the EEG to clinical and welfare engineering fields (e.g., a brain-computer interface (BCI) for physically disabilities). The present study focused on the EEG synchronized with ...
Elucidating the spatiotemporal dynamics of the EEG is crucial for applying the EEG to clinical and welfare engineering fields (e.g., a brain-computer interface (BCI) for physically disabilities). The present study focused on the EEG synchronized with flicker stimuli (steady-state visually evoked potential, SSVEP) and investigated the dependence of spatiotemporal characteristics of the SSVEP on the stimulus conditions. The SSVEP was measured from 16 subjects under the conditions of the stimulus intensity Is and stimulus frequency fs in the ranges 5 ≤ Is ≤ 300 (lx) and 7 ≤ fs ≤ 16 (Hz), respectively. Spatial phase relationship of the SSVEP from the frontal to occipital lobes showed a property of standing wave under the most of the stimulus conditions. However, the spatial phase property tended to shift to a traveling wave-type under the condition of 70 <Is < 110 (lx), indicating that the SSVEP elicited was spatially localized. This result suggests the parametric dependence of generators which are responsible for the SSVEP. Moreover, the spatial phase characteristics can be applied to discriminate between the SSVEP and various environmental noise/artifact in the BCI.