Methods of Deactivation

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In three consecutive practical training sessions, students acquire direct hands-on experience with non-invasive magnetic brain stimulation (transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)). Students learn how to use the brain stimulator devices, how to evoke muscle responses and how to induce visual experiences. Students act as both the experimenter, applying the brain stimulation, and the participant, receiving the magnetic pulses. Practical I: Technical introduction/motor thresholds/motor excitability. Practical II: TMS-induced visual experiences (phosphenes). Practical III: TMS Neuronavigation (frameless stereotaxy). There are a variety of ways in which activity in a brain region can be prevented or influenced. Some studies use anatomical lesion methods (in animals), while others use reversible methods such as cooling, and pharmacological or genetic manipulations in animals, or TMS in human participants. The training will end with a lecture that provides an overview of these different methodologies, including a discussion of the advantages and limitations of the different techniques and of the issues related to data interpretation.