Visual processing in migraineurs

Abstract

Twelve migraine subjects with aura and 12 matched control subjects performed four computerized visual tasks. Because chronic electroencephalographic and regional cerebral blood flow abnormalities in posterior brain functions have been documented during interictal periods, migraine subjects were tested between migraine attacks. Two tasks, orientation detection and temporal order judgement, were devised to examine 'low-level' visual processes. The results were compared with results from two tasks, picture naming and word priming, that were devised to examine 'high-level' visual processes. Regarding the response time data across all four tasks, the migraine group was faster in the two low-level tasks. There were no differences in error rate in any of the four tasks. The migraineur's apparent response time advantage in the low-level tasks provides a psychophysical corroboration of their assumed oversensitivity to visual stimuli. The remaining two tasks, picture naming and word priming, which involve the use of previously stored information, do not distinguish migraineurs from matched control subjects. These results suggest that migraineurs are better in low-level visual processing, in that the signals to the primary visual cortex (Area V1) are processed more rapidly, but this hypersensitivity does not carry over to the subsequent processing stages (beyond V1 to superior parietal and inferior temporal cortices), as evidenced by the absence of a response time advantage in the two higher-level vision tasks.

The optometric correlates of migraine

“…Coleston et al, 1994;McKendrick and Badcock, 2003). Visual stress seems to be a manifestation of cortical hyperexcitability resulting in a visual trigger for migraine (Wray et al, 1995), eyestrain and visual perceptual distortions. It can be thought of as a visual component to the migraine brain's over-sensitivity to environmental triggers (Welch, 2003).…”

Migraine and cognitive function

“…Functional and electrophysiologic alterations in cortical functioning have been found during the migraine interval, [1][2][3][4][5] which may be associated with cognitive impairment as demonstrated on tests of perception, 6,7 psychomotor ability, 8 attention, [9][10][11] and verbal memory. 12,13 However, not all studies have found such cortical alterations 14 or cognitive performance decrements.…”

“…21 This is a longitudinal investigation of the health and behavior of a complete cohort of individuals born in Dunedin, New Zealand, between 1 April 1972 and 31 March 1973. Study members have been assessed individually on a wide variety of psychological and medical measures at ages 3,5,7,9,11,13,15,18,21, and most recently in 1998 and 1999 at age 26 (n ϭ 980; 96.2% of the living cohort).…”

Neuropsychologic phenotypes in familial hemiplegic migraine

“…Deficits in attention, early visual processing [27,28], memory [20][21][22][23][24][25], and psychomotor abilities [20,24,29] were reported in patients with migraine with aura assessed in the interictal period [30]. Cognitive impairment involving memory and psychomotor abilities was also shown in subjects with migraine without aura [20,30].…”