Steady‐state VEP responses to uncomfortable stimuli

Periodic stimuli, such as op‐art, can evoke a range of aversive sensations included in the term visual discomfort. Illusory motion effects are elicited by fixational eye movements, but the cortex might also contribute to effects of discomfort. To investigate this possibility, steady‐state visually evoked responses (SSVEPs) to contrast‐matched op‐art‐based stimuli were measured at the same time as discomfort judgements. On average, discomfort reduced with increasing spatial frequency of the pattern. In contrast, the peak amplitude of the SSVEP response was around the midrange spatial frequencies. Like the discomfort judgements, SSVEP responses to the highest spatial frequencies were lowest amplitude, but the relationship breaks down between discomfort and SSVEP for the lower spatial frequency stimuli. This was not explicable by gross eye movements as measured using the facial electrodes. There was a weak relationship between the peak SSVEP responses and discomfort judgements for some stimuli, suggesting that discomfort can be explained in part by electrophysiological responses measured at the level of the cortex. However, there is a breakdown of this relationship in the case of lower spatial frequency stimuli, which remains unexplained. Geometric patterns can provoke physical sensations in the observer, possibly due to eye movements. Models of efficient coding predict that uncomfortable visual stimuli will be those that evoke excessive cortical responses. Using steady‐state visual evoked potentials, this study provides evidence that the cortex also has a role in determining visual discomfort from striped patterns inspired by op‐art.