Beyond EEG Onset Transients: Sensitisation and Habituation of Hyper-excitation to Constant Presentation and Offset ofPattern-Glare Stimuli

Pattern-glare, characterised by visual distortions, discomfort, and stress when viewing striped patterns, has been associated with cortical hyperexcitability, particularly in individuals with visually induced epilepsy, migraines, and visual stress. While previous studies have explored the onset transients of such stimuli, this research investigates the sensitisation and habituation effect to the constant presentation and offset of pattern-glare stimuli. We analysed the temporal characteristics of the Event Related Potentials (ERPs) in healthy participants to find correlates of cortical hyperexcitability over two time granularities: a fine granularity (over seconds) and a coarser granularity (across the time-course of the entire experiment). We looked for habituation and sensitization effects across these time periods. Our results suggest that brain responses to pattern-glare stimuli are correlated to participants sensitivity to visual discomfort with statistically significant effects observed for this factor and for its interaction with changes over time. This study improves our understanding of how the brain adapts to persistent visual stimuli and provides insights that may inform treatments for conditions like migraine and epilepsy.