Meeting Report: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Cognitive neuroscience studies how the physical structure of the brain subserves the cognitive processes of the mind. Such studies with humans are hampered by technical difficulties. One classic approach to human subject studies has been observing the cognitive performance of individuals who have suffered focal brain injuries. More recently, non-invasive brain monitoring has allowed investigation of how human cognitive performance is linked with neural substrates in intact human subjects. A number of such non-invasive brain monitoring tools have been developed, each with its own individual strengths and weaknesses. EEG and MEG detect neural activity during cognitive performance with good temporal resolution but are less useful for identifying precisely where in the brain the neural activity is occurring. PET and fMRI, monitoring signals correlated with hemodynamic and metabolic indicators of neuronal activity, provide good spatial identification of brain areas involved in the performance of cognitive tasks, but are limited