What is a virtual lesion?
Throughout the history of medicine, it has been very difficult to study the brain at a functional level. Until very recently, scientists were only able to understand which areas of the brain played specific roles by studying patients who had suffered brain injury either through accident or disease. TMS changes all of this. It is now possible to create temporary and artificial anomalies in the brain by inducing a small current in finely controlled areas with the use of the TMS coil. By targeting areas, researchers can deduce which parts of the brain are responsible for different types of cognition. For example, in 2002, Marie-Hlne Grosbras and Tom Paus from McGill University published an article in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience where they are able to slow down a visual attention task by stimulating a part of the brain known to be involved in eye movements.
