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Neuroscience JoVE (Open Access) Citable · DOI

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Investigating Causal Brain-behavioral Relationships and their Time Course

DOI: 10.3791/51735-v
What you'll learn
  • ✓ Set up and register head position for transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)
  • ✓ Localize brain regions targeted for TMS using anatomical landmarks
  • ✓ Administer TMS during cognitive tasks to assess causal brain-behavior relationships
  • ✓ Interpret TMS disruption patterns to determine regional necessity for task performance
Protocol

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a technique for non-invasively disrupting neural information processing and measuring its effect on behavior. When TMS interferes with a task, it indicates that the stimulated brain region is necessary for normal task performance, allowing one to systematically relate brain regions to cognitive functions.

Difficulty
advanced
Total time
~1–2 hours per participant (including setup, localization, and task execution)

Steps

1
Register head and prepare TMS apparatus

Position participant's head and establish reproducible registration landmarks for consistent TMS coil placement across sessions. Calibrate stimulation equipment and safety parameters.

▶ 02:06
2
Localize target brain regions for stimulation

Identify anatomically defined regions (e.g., supramarginal gyrus) using structural landmarks and establish motor threshold to individualize stimulation intensity.

▶ 05:35
3
Execute TMS-disruption during cognitive task

Deliver TMS pulses at precise timepoints while participant performs the behavioral task, measuring performance accuracy and reaction time to detect regional necessity.

▶ 07:05
4
Analyze TMS effects on phonological processing

Compare task performance during stimulation of target regions versus control sites to establish causal links between specific brain areas and linguistic or cognitive functions.

▶ 08:23
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