Suppression of spatial localization of a cutaneous stimulus following transcranial magnetic pulse stimulation of the sensorimotor cortex.

Transcranial magnetic pulse stimulation (TMS) over the region of the sensorimotor cortex impairs both perception and tactile localization of cutaneous stimuli delivered to the fingers of the contralateral hand. The region of the scalp over which TMS results in impaired cutaneous localization coincides with the region over which TMS suppresses simple perception. TMS has a more profound effect on tactile localization than on simple detection of cutaneous stimuli. TMS disrupts tactile localization for 400 ms after tactile perception has returned to normal.