Stripes, complex cells and seizures. An attempt to determine the locus and nature of the trigger mechanism in pattern-sensitive epilepsy

Abstract

The study concerns an epileptic patient whose absence attacks were contingent on the viewing of striped patterns. A series of experiments demonstrated first that seizures were not due to the intermittent stimulation of retinal cells produced as physiological nystagmus vibrated the image of the pattern, and secondly that seizures were triggered at the cortical level, probably by the firing of complex cells. Spectacles which occluded pattern vision in one eye were highly effective in reducing seizure incidence.