Evoked activity

Last updated July 18, 2025

Evoked activity is brain activity that is the result of a task, sensory input or motor output.^[1] It is opposed to spontaneous brain activity during the absence of any explicit task.^[2]

Most experimental studies in neuroscience investigate brain functioning by administering a task or stimulus and measure the resulting changes in neuronal activity and behavior. In electroencephalography (EEG) research, evoked activity or evoked responses specifically refers to activity that is phase-locked to the stimulus onset and is opposed to induced activity, which is a stimulus-related change in (the amplitude of) oscillatory activity.^[1]

References

1 2 Nierhaus, Till; Schön, Tobias; Becker, Robert; Ritter, Petra; Villringer, Arno (October 2009). "Background and evoked activity and their interaction in the human brain". Magnetic Resonance Imaging. 27 (8): 1140–1150. doi:10.1016/j.mri.2009.04.001. ISSN 1873-5894. PMID 19497696. Sensory stimulation generates electrical potentials in the brain which are termed evoked potentials (when picked up with EEG); the MEG recordings of the magnetic counterparts are termed evoked fields. Amplitudes of EPs/fields are usually too small to be detected in a single trial; therefore, EEG/MEG recordings are time-locked to a task/stimulation and averaged thereafter... In addition to the "evoked potential," sensory stimulation is also accompanied by oscillatory activity that either can be described as evoked or induced oscillations
↑ Uddin, Lucina Q. (September 2020). "Bring the Noise: Reconceptualizing Spontaneous Neural Activity". Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 24 (9): 734–746. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2020.06.003. ISSN 1879-307X. PMC 7429348 . PMID 32600967. Spontaneous activity refers to the firing of neurons in the absence of sensory input. This non-evoked or stimulus-independent activity represents a fundamental property of nervous systems.

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[:0-1] 1 2 Nierhaus, Till; Schön, Tobias; Becker, Robert; Ritter, Petra; Villringer, Arno (October 2009). "Background and evoked activity and their interaction in the human brain". Magnetic Resonance Imaging. 27 (8): 1140–1150. doi:10.1016/j.mri.2009.04.001. ISSN 1873-5894. PMID 19497696. Sensory stimulation generates electrical potentials in the brain which are termed evoked potentials (when picked up with EEG); the MEG recordings of the magnetic counterparts are termed evoked fields. Amplitudes of EPs/fields are usually too small to be detected in a single trial; therefore, EEG/MEG recordings are time-locked to a task/stimulation and averaged thereafter... In addition to the "evoked potential," sensory stimulation is also accompanied by oscillatory activity that either can be described as evoked or induced oscillations

[2] Uddin, Lucina Q. (September 2020). "Bring the Noise: Reconceptualizing Spontaneous Neural Activity". Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 24 (9): 734–746. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2020.06.003. ISSN 1879-307X. PMC 7429348 . PMID 32600967. Spontaneous activity refers to the firing of neurons in the absence of sensory input. This non-evoked or stimulus-independent activity represents a fundamental property of nervous systems.

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Evoked activity

See also

References