Cowey Alan
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, UK.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2005 Jun 29;360(1458):1185-205. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2005.1658.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a technique whereby parts of the cerebral cortex and underlying white matter can be excited by a brief electrical current induced by a similarly brief, rapidly fluctuating magnetic field which is itself produced by rapidly discharging a current through an insulated coil held against the scalp. When combined with magnetic resonance structural and functional images of the subject's brain, the stimulation can be directed at specific cortical areas. Over a period of only 15 years, TMS has revealed hitherto unsuspected aspects of brain function, such as the role of distant parts of the brain in recovery from stroke, and has helped to resolve several previously intractable disputes, such as the neuronal basis of conscious awareness. This article describes and discusses the origins and nature of TMS, its applications and limitations, and its especial usefulness in conjunction with other techniques of evaluating or imaging brain activity.
经颅磁刺激（TMS）是一种技术，通过将电流快速通过置于头皮上的绝缘线圈来产生一个同样短暂、快速波动的磁场，该磁场会感应出短暂电流，从而激发大脑皮层及深层白质的某些部分。当与受试者大脑的磁共振结构和功能图像相结合时，刺激可针对特定的皮层区域。在短短15年的时间里，经颅磁刺激揭示了此前未被怀疑的脑功能方面，比如大脑远处部分在中风恢复中的作用，并且有助于解决一些之前难以解决的争议，比如意识觉知的神经元基础。本文描述并讨论了经颅磁刺激的起源、性质、应用和局限性，以及它与其他评估或成像大脑活动的技术相结合时的特殊用途。
