Tracking the mind's image in the brain II: Differential effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation of the right and left parietal lobe.

A.T. Sack, J.M. Sperling, D. Prvulovic, E. Formisano, R.W. Goebel, F. Di Salle, T. Dierks, David Linden*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

29 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The functional relevance of brain activity during visuospatial tasks was investigated by combining functional magnetic resonance imaging with unilateral repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). The cognitive tasks involved visuospatial operations on visually presented and mentally imagined material ("mental clock task"). While visuospatial operations were associated with activation of the intraparietal sulcus region bilaterally, only the group which received rTMS to the right parietal lobe showed an impairment of performance during and immediately after rTMS. This functional parietal asymmetry might indicate a capacity of the right parietal lobe to compensate for a temporary suppression of the left. This is compatible with current theories of spatial hemineglect and constitutes a constraint for models of distributed information processing in the parietal lobes.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)195-204
JournalNeuron
Volume35
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2002

Cite this