We applied high-density EEG to examine steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) during a perceptual/semantic stimulus repetition design. SSVEPs are evoked oscillatory cortical responses at the same frequency as visual stimuli flickered at this frequency. In repetition designs, stimuli are presented twice with the repetition being task irrelevant. The cortical processing of the second stimulus is commonly characterized by decreased neuronal activity (repetition suppression). The behavioral consequences of stimulus repetition were examined in a companion reaction time pre-study using the same experimental design as the EEG study. During the first presentation of a stimulus, we confronted participants with drawings of familiar object images or object words, respectively. The second stimulus was either a repetition of the same object image (perceptual repetition; PR) or an image depicting the word presented during the first presentation (semantic repetition; SR)—all flickered at 15 Hz to elicit SSVEPs. The behavioral study revealed priming effects in both experimental conditions (PR and SR). In the EEG, PR was associated with repetition suppression of SSVEP amplitudes at left occipital and repetition enhancement at left temporal electrodes. In contrast, SR was associated with SSVEP suppression at left occipital and central electrodes originating in bilateral postcentral and occipital gyri, right middle frontal and right temporal gyrus. The conclusion of the presented study is twofold. First, SSVEP amplitudes do not only index perceptual aspects of incoming sensory information but also semantic aspects of cortical object representation. Second, our electrophysiological findings can be interpreted as neuronal underpinnings of perceptual and semantic priming.

我们应用高密度脑电图检查感知/语义刺激重复设计期间的稳态视觉诱发电位 (SSVEP)。SSVEP 是在与在该频率闪烁的视觉刺激相同的频率上诱发的振荡皮层反应。在重复设计中，刺激出现两次，重复与任务无关。第二刺激的皮层处理通常以神经元活动减少（重复抑制）为特征。使用与脑电图研究相同的实验设计，在同伴反应时间预研究中检查刺激重复的行为后果。在第一次呈现刺激时，我们分别让参与者看到熟悉的物体图像或物体单词的图画。第二个刺激要么是重复相同的对象图像（感知重复；PR），要么是描述在第一次呈现期间呈现的单词的图像（语义重复；SR）——所有这些都以 15 Hz 的频率闪烁以引发 SSVEP。行为研究揭示了两种实验条件（PR 和 SR）中的启动效应。在 EEG 中，PR 与左侧枕叶 SSVEP 幅度的重复抑制和左侧颞电极的重复增强有关。相比之下，SR 与左侧枕叶和中央电极的 SSVEP 抑制相关，这些电极起源于双侧中央后回和枕叶回、右侧额中回和右侧颞回。本研究的结论是双重的。第一的，SSVEP 幅度不仅索引传入感觉信息的感知方面，还索引皮质对象表示的语义方面。其次，我们的电生理学发现可以解释为知觉和语义启动的神经元基础。