A mechanistic account of visual discomfort
Penacchio, Olivier (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Ciències de la Computació .)
Otazu Porter, Xavier (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Ciències de la Computació)
Wilkins, Arnold (University of Essex)
Haigh, Sarah M. (University of Nevada)

Date:	2023
Abstract:	Much of the neural machinery of the early visual cortex, from the extraction of local orientations to contextual modulations through lateral interactions, is thought to have developed to provide a sparse encoding of contour in natural scenes, allowing the brain to process efficiently most of the visual scenes we are exposed to. Certain visual stimuli, however, cause visual stress, a set of adverse effects ranging from simple discomfort to migraine attacks, and epileptic seizures in the extreme, all phenomena linked with an excessive metabolic demand. The theory of efficient coding suggests a link between excessive metabolic demand and images that deviate from natural statistics. Yet, the mechanisms linking energy demand and image spatial content in discomfort remain elusive. Here, we used theories of visual coding that link image spatial structure and brain activation to characterize the response to images observers reported as uncomfortable in a biologically based neurodynamic model of the early visual cortex that included excitatory and inhibitory layers to implement contextual influences. We found three clear markers of aversive images: a larger overall activation in the model, a less sparse response, and a more unbalanced distribution of activity across spatial orientations. When the ratio of excitation over inhibition was increased in the model, a phenomenon hypothesised to underlie interindividual differences in susceptibility to visual discomfort, the three markers of discomfort progressively shifted toward values typical of the response to uncomfortable stimuli. Overall, these findings propose a unifying mechanistic explanation for why there are differences between images and between observers, suggesting how visual input and idiosyncratic hyperexcitability give rise to abnormal brain responses that result in visual stress.
Grants:	Agencia Estatal de Investigación PID2020-118254RB-I00 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2021/SGR-01470
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Visual discomfort ; Visual stress ; Interindividual differences ; Natural scenes ; Efficient coding ; Hypermetabolism ; Urban scenes ; Computational modelling
Published in:	Frontiers in Neuroscience, Vol. 17 (July 2023) , art. 1200661, ISSN 1662-453X

DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1200661
PMID: 37547142

14 p, 2.9 MB

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Articles > Research articles
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