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Updated: Jun 1, 2026
A Novel Approach for Documenting Phosphenes Induced by Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
Published on: April 1, 2010
Transcranial magnetic stimulation reveals high test-retest reliability for phosphenes but not for suppression of
Michael Siniatchkin1, Christoph Schlicke, Ulrich Stephani
1Clinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Philipps-University of Marburg, Germany. m.siniatchkin@pedneuro.uni-kiel.de
Objective:
To investigate test-retest reliability of visual cortical excitatory and inhibitory phenomena.
Methods:
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was applied over occipital cortex twice in 22 healthy young adults with at least a one-month interval between both measurements. The test-retest reliability of the phosphenes and TMS-induced suppression of visual perception was assessed using correlation and calculation of the repeatability coefficient.
Results:
Both analyses revealed a high reliability for phosphenes but not for the suppression of visual perception.
Conclusions:
It seems likely that the phosphenes may be better used than the TMS-induced suppression of visual perception in experiments which need repeated measurements (e.g., longitudinal studies or studies with pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions).
Significance:
The study demonstrates a rather limited value of the TMS-induced suppression of visual perception for studies with repeated measurements.
