Here in the lab we use a technique called Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to investigate how parts of the frontal lobe are involved in cognitive control. TMS is actually a very brief, focalized magnetic pulse which is applied to the scalp through an electromagnetic hand-held coil. This pulse is of very short duration (it lasts about 1/1000th of a second) and the pulse can disturb cognitive processing at a specific area just under the coil.

TMS does not hurt and has proven to be a safe and powerful way of learning more about the brain.

Subjects voluntering for TMS are usually given a task to perform in front of a computer. The tasks have been shown to activate specific parts of the frontal cortex, we can see this when subjects are doing the same tasks in the fMRI scanners. TMS induces "neural noise" into these same parts of the frontal cortex, and in this way we can show that certain aspects of cognitive control are connected to certain areas to the brain.

Specific to this lab, subjects are asked to perform a task designed to tax the Rostrolateral PFC -- an anterior brain region of great interest to the relational integration researchers in the lab.

If you have any questions about this method or would like more information about participating in a TMS study, please contact Espen Hauk Helskog at BrainLab@berkeley.edu.