Capilla, AlmudenaPazo Álvarez, PaulaDarriba Domínguez, ÁlvaroCampo, PabloGross, Joachim2020-04-152020-04-152011Capilla A, Pazo-Alvarez P, Darriba A, Campo P, Gross J (2011) Steady-State Visual Evoked Potentials Can Be Explained by Temporal Superposition of Transient Event-Related Responses. PLoS ONE 6(1): e14543http://hdl.handle.net/10347/21428Background One common criterion for classifying electrophysiological brain responses is based on the distinction between transient (i.e. event-related potentials, ERPs) and steady-state responses (SSRs). The generation of SSRs is usually attributed to the entrainment of a neural rhythm driven by the stimulus train. However, a more parsimonious account suggests that SSRs might result from the linear addition of the transient responses elicited by each stimulus. This study aimed to investigate this possibility. Methodology/Principal Findings We recorded brain potentials elicited by a checkerboard stimulus reversing at different rates. We modeled SSRs by sequentially shifting and linearly adding rate-specific ERPs. Our results show a strong resemblance between recorded and synthetic SSRs, supporting the superposition hypothesis. Furthermore, we did not find evidence of entrainment of a neural oscillation at the stimulation frequency. Conclusions/Significance This study provides evidence that visual SSRs can be explained as a superposition of transient ERPs. These findings have critical implications in our current understanding of brain oscillations. Contrary to the idea that neural networks can be tuned to a wide range of frequencies, our findings rather suggest that the oscillatory response of a given neural network is constrained within its natural frequency rangeengCopyright: © 2011 Capilla et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are creditedhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/journal article10.1371/journal.pone.00145431932-6203open access