A topographic study of oscillatory potentials in man.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of slow multifocal m-sequence stimulation in analyzing the topographic distribution and underlying mechanisms (including nonlinearities) of the retinal oscillatory potentials (OPs). In giving us access to the response topography and the nonlinear characteristics of the OPs, the m-sequence technique provides us with two important means for the identification and characterization of the signal sources. In this study, we analyzed the OPs into the first- and second-order components and investigated their topographies and luminance dependence. The distribution of both the first- and second-order OP components differed significantly from that of the flicker ERG investigated by Sutter and Tran (1992). At eccentricities and luminance levels favoring activity by both rods and cones, the second-order OPs were particularly prominent, showing the most clear-defined and complex waveform. The topographic distribution of the second-order OPs showed combined features of both rod and cone distributions. On a strong rod-bleaching background, the second-order OPs were eliminated and the first-order OPs showed a reduced amplitude and a shifted latency. These results are consistent with the notion that the second-order component of the OPs is dominated by contributions from rod-cone interactions.