Stripes that can bring on migraines
Seeing too many striped objects, such as zebra crossings, Venetian blinds, barcodes and even radiators, can lead to migraines and possibly epilepsy, research has shown. Scientists in the Netherlands and the US have discovered that for some people, looking at vertical lines can trigger a neural loop of activity in the brain, leading to migraines. Vertical stripes are thought to be more harmful than horizontal.
STRIPES are ubiquitous in modern life, from business shirts and barcodes to Venetian blinds and zebra crossings.
But a study suggests they might be making us ill.
Scientists in the Netherlands and the US have discovered that for some people, looking at vertical lines can trigger a neural loop of activity in the brain.
In severe cases it can lead to epilepsy, but researchers think it might also be responsible for migraines.
They suggest radiators, escalators, brickwork and even the stripes on deckchairs could set off attacks, seizures, or just a feeling of unease.
“Our findings imply that in designing buildings, it may be important to avoid the types of visual patterns that can activate this circuit and cause discomfort, migraines, or seizures,” said Dr Dora Hermes of the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands. “Even perfectly healthy people may feel modest discomfort from the images that are most likely to trigger seizures in photosensitive epilepsy.” It is already established that flickering or bright lights can trigger seizures or migraines.
In a well-known incident in 1997, one episode of a Pokemon cartoon resulted in 685 people in Japan suffering seizures. Similarly an advertisement for the London 2012 Olympics, which showed a diver in a rippling multi-coloured swimming pool, had to be altered after it sparked epileptic fits.
But it is the first time that scientists have found that certain still images can have a similar impact. The researchers think stripes set off a repetitive pattern of neural activity in the brain known as gamma oscillations.
The team is now working on a model to predict which natural images or scenes in a city, train station, or interior are most likely to provoke gamma oscillations and seizures or migraines.
Jonathan Winawer, of New York University, said: “Radiator grills can be provocative, and are in fact sometimes covered by patients with pattern-sensitive epilepsy.” The research was published in the journal Current Biology.
Dangerous items include radiators, Newcastle United shirts, rippled water, tree-lined roads in Picardy. It’s the stripiness, scientists have found, which at worst can trigger epileptic fits, or at least provoke a migraine. A neural loop of activity can be set off even by static objects striped vertically, suggests research by American and Dutch scientists. Brindled peril is everywhere, if not from zebras then from zebra crossings; from deckchairs or pinstriped suits; from humbugs and French sailors lying sideways. All seems calmly nebulous in pastel tones when, with sudden leap, the flexible tiger appears, as Haydn’s librettist well knew. The sun makes car-park railings cast barcode patterns, and stands of birches shine like the teeth of giant combs. On susceptible brains it has the same effect as a wire slice on a hard-boiled egg.