NEUROSC M101C Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Transcranial Direct-Current Stimulation, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, Temporal Lobe
Document Summary
Tms primer/refresher: transcranial magnetic stimulation: a tool to non-invasively manipulate neural activity, neuronal signals are based on electrochemical mechanisms. 3. are fundamentally related at by physical laws, such that we could pass electric currents through a coil to generate a magnetic field, and the magnetic field could in turn induce the electrochemically sensitive neurons to fire. In principle we could directly pass electrical currents through the scalp too. But that normally hurts more and the smearing of electrical activity by the scalp lowers the spatial resolution. The standard demonstrating is done at the visual areas or the primary motor area. If applied to v1 (i. e. the primary cortex / striate cortex), for instance, one gets to see "phosphenes", or some sort of random bright scatters. If applied to a certain area of the primary motor cortex, one gets to produce hand twitches: these are typically done when the subject is at rest.
