Transcranial magnetic stimulation affects response time in decision-making tasks

In this study, we investigate how excitatory transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) can influence decision speed in the task of classifying ambiguous visual patterns. 30 healthy volunteers were divided into 2 groups. During two experimental sessions they classified ambiguous Necker cubes. Before the second experimental session, stimulation of the area of the cerebral cortex, which is related to decision-making, was performed. One group received sham stimulation; the other group was stimulated with repetitive TMS (rTMS) for 3 minutes at a frequency of 10 Hz. As a result: the rTMS group significantly (p<0.05) improved their performance in the second session by 0.052 seconds [95%CI - 0.085, -0.005]; the sham group did not improve their result significantly (p=0.844).