Paired pulse TMS over the right posterior parietal cortex modulates visuospatial perception

Abstract

We previously observed a relative contralateral neglect by right parietal single-pulse TMS given 150 ms after visual stimulus presentation. Here we investigated the effects of parietal paired TMS in normal subjects performing a visuospatial task. Methods: Thirteen right-handed healthy subjects underwent a line-length judgement task during single-pulse and paired (1, 3, 5, 10 ms ISIs) TMS, delivered on the right parietal cortex 150 ms after visual stimulus. Results: Single pulse TMS over the right parietal cortex induced a significant rightward bias compared to the baseline condition. At 1 and 3 ms ISIs, paired-pulse TMS did not show any effect in comparison with single pulse TMS. More importantly, 5 ms ISI was able to restore baseline levels, thus inducing a significant improvement of the performance compared to single-pulse TMS and 1-3 ms ISIs. Conclusions: Paired TMS seems able to modulate activity of the right posterior parietal cortex in healthy subjects performing a cognitive visuospatial task