Feasibility of Electroencephalography-Based Detection of Single-Flash Microperimetry Stimuli: A Proof-of-Concept Study.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the feasibility of detecting single-trial cortical responses to individual microperimetry (MP) stimuli using electroencephalography (EEG) under non-ideal synchronization conditions, and to explore EEG-based stimulus registration independent of patient responses.

METHODS

This proof-of-concept study acquired EEG data from two healthy participants (12 trials) during MP testing using low- and high-intensity single-flash stimuli. Occipital EEG signals were recorded with an 8-channel portable system, band-pass filtered (4-49 Hz), normalized, and segmented into 600-ms epochs time-locked to MP stimuli using offline synchronization, resulting in an estimated temporal uncertainty of ~250 ms. A bidirectional long short-term memory (BiLSTM) deep learning model classified stimulus-present versus stimulus-absent EEG segments. Performance was assessed using accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and F1-score, with emphasis on feasibility rather than generalizability.

RESULTS

Across trials, EEG-based classification performance exceeded chance levels. For high-intensity stimuli, detection accuracy approached 80%, while low-intensity stimuli demonstrated greater inter-trial variability. Occipital electrode configurations consistently outperformed parietal or combined montages, consistent with visual cortex neuroanatomy. Despite the absence of hardware-level synchronization and single-trial analysis, detectable neural signatures of isolated MP flashes were observed.

CONCLUSION

These findings demonstrate the feasibility of detecting single-flash MP stimuli from occipital EEG using deep learning, even under constrained acquisition conditions. While not intended for immediate clinical deployment, this work motivates future studies incorporating precise synchronization, optimized stimulus designs, and larger cohorts to evaluate EEG-augmented microperimetry as a potential objective adjunct to subjective functional testing.