Effects of amplitude-frequency characteristics of a noise-masked test stimulus on the shapes of visual evoked potentials.

Visual evoked potentials produced in response to a reversive checkerboard pattern presented in conditions of additive noise were recorded. Changes induced by noise in both the shapes of evoked potentials and the structure of the test stimulus were compared. The nature of changes in the shapes of evoked potentials was found to correlate with the nature of changes in the amplitude-frequency spectrum of the stimulus. These results support the gestalt psychology point of view that the visual system uses spatial frequency rather than discrete means for describing information.