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Cited by 82Hallucinations in medical conditionsEpilepsy research and treatmentVisual perception and processing mechanisms

Electrical Cortical Stimulation of the Human Prefrontal Cortex Evokes Complex Visual Hallucinations

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Blanke, O., Landis, T., Seeck, M.·2000·Epilepsy & Behavior
DOI 10.1006/ebeh.2000.0109
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Abstract

Complex visual hallucinations are a well-known feature of electrical stimulation or epileptic discharge in the temporal lobe. It has been proposed that these visual hallucinations result from an electrical interference with the ventral visual processing stream in the lateral temporal lobe and the memory system in medial temporal structures, which explains their frequent visual and mnestic features. Even though recent studies have demonstrated visual and memory functions in the prefrontal cortex, up to now epileptic discharge or electrical stimulation of prefrontal structures has only rarely been reported to induce visual phenomena. We report on two patients undergoing invasive presurgical epilepsy evaluation in which electrical cortical stimulation of the left prefrontal cortex repeatedly induced complex visual hallucinations. Interestingly, the induced visual responses differed with respect to their spatial organization: whereas those evoked on the inferior frontal gyrus were perceived in the whole visual field, complex visual responses on the middle frontal gyrus were restricted to the contralateral hemispace. Based on the spatial organization of the visual experiences in our patients, animal work, and neuroimaging data it might be suggested that specific subregions of the human prefrontal cortex might contain separate visual and mnemonic processing mechanisms.

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Crossref · 10.1006/ebeh.2000.0109

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  • In Patient 2 of Blanke et al. (2000), iES of the posterior DLPFC elicited an immersive, hallucinatory visual experience.

    “In Patient 2, stimulation of the posterior aspect of the DLPFC, directly anterior to the frontal eye fields (Fig. 4), similarly elicited an immersive, hallucinatory visual experience.”

    From Does the Prefrontal Cortex Play an Essential Role in Consciousness? Insights from Intracranial Electrical Stimulation of the Human Brain (2021) · cites this paper as Blanke et al., 2000

    The Patient D.K. section reports that stimulation of the posterior middle frontal gyrus, immediately anterior to the eye-movement sites, repeatedly induced a complex visual hallucination. It does not establish that the experience was immersive: the patient reported a man in an adjacent room and described the sensation as “an idea or a thought, like dreaming.” (LLM, conf=0.82)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Occasional exceptions to the general trend of null effects in anterior PFC have been reported in isolated case studies.

    “Nonetheless, occasional exceptions to this general trend have been reported in isolated case studies (Blanke et al., 2000;Vignal et al., 2000;Vaca et al., 2011;Popa et al., 2016;A. Liu et al., 2020), and the details of effects elicited in the OFC and ACC are also of considerable interest.”

    From Does the Prefrontal Cortex Play an Essential Role in Consciousness? Insights from Intracranial Electrical Stimulation of the Human Brain (2021) · cites this paper as Blanke et al., 2000

  • Blanke et al. (2000) concluded that iES of DLPFC and VLPFC could elicit immersive visual experiences similar to the episodic and dream-like experiences usually only reported following iES of the temporal lobe.

    “The authors concluded that iES of DLPFC and VLPFC could elicit immersive visual experiences similar to the episodic and dream-like experiences usually only reported following iES of the temporal lobe (Curot et al., 2017), although they acknowledged that the reported effects could be understood as perturbation of ongoing, conceptual thought processes rather than visual hallucinations per se.”

    From Does the Prefrontal Cortex Play an Essential Role in Consciousness? Insights from Intracranial Electrical Stimulation of the Human Brain (2021) · cites this paper as Blanke et al., 2000

  • In Patient 1 of Blanke et al. (2000), iES of the VLPFC produced complex visual hallucinations.

    “In Patient 1, the authors reported complex visual hallucinations produced by stimulating two adjacent electrodes located in the VLPFC.”

    From Does the Prefrontal Cortex Play an Essential Role in Consciousness? Insights from Intracranial Electrical Stimulation of the Human Brain (2021) · cites this paper as Blanke et al., 2000

  • These studies represent, to the authors' knowledge, the only published reports of iES-elicited effects in lateral PFC regions, not counting motor effects in various frontal motor areas.

    “These studies (Blanke et al., 2000;Vignal et al., 2000;Vaca et al., 2011;Popa et al., 2016;A. Liu et al., 2020) represent, to our knowledge, the only published reports of iES-elicited effects in lateral PFC regions (not counting motor effects in various frontal motor areas).”

    From Does the Prefrontal Cortex Play an Essential Role in Consciousness? Insights from Intracranial Electrical Stimulation of the Human Brain (2021) · cites this paper as Blanke et al., 2000

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Authors
Blanke, O., Landis, T., & Seeck, M.
Affiliations
University Hospital of Geneva (CH)
ORCID
Venue
Epilepsy & Behavior
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2000-10
Volume
1
Issue
5
Pages
356-361
ISSN
1525-5050 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1006/ebeh.2000.0109
OpenAlex
W2004851125
Cited by
82
References
42
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 5
FWCI
0.18
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Epilepsy & Behavior (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Infoscience (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) (submittedVersion)
  • Infoscience (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
Funders
  • National Science Foundation
  • Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung (52933)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Hallucinations in medical conditions
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Epilepsy research and treatment
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
Keywords
complex visual hallucinations, cortical electrical stimulation, prefrontal cortex, inferior frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, memory processes, epileptic discharges, ventral stream

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