Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation: Disrupting Neural Activity to Alter and Assess Brain Function

This article is intended to describe and evaluate the technique of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), which is rapidly becoming an essential tool available to neuroscientists for assessing brain function and to clinicians for treating brain dysfunctions (e.g., stroke and depression). By using TMS to determine whether a brain area is causing some function, it nicely complements the limitations associated with correlation techniques, such as ERPs and fMRI, while also being able to provide several new insights into the operations of the brain. Here, we describe the basic principles of TMS functioning, and we discuss how to use this technique to assess and alter brain functioning.