Effects of high frequency rTMS on sleep deprivation: A pilot study

Transcranial magnetic stimulation is a neurostimulation technique which has the potential to serve as a unique research tool for investigating a wide variety of fields in cognitive neuroscience. TMS has been approved by the FDA to serve as a treatment to depression and has also been used to evaluate its effects among several conditions such as Alzheimer, Parkinson disease, chronic pain and stroke. High frequency TMS has been previously used with the intention to measure and modulate the negative effects of sleep deprivation in cognitive performance, but there is no consensus about the ideal protocol yet. In this pilot study, we attempt to test high frequency rTMS in different brain targets in order to determine the effects in remediation of working memory due to sleep deprivation. These results provide preliminary evidence of the potential effectiveness of TMS for the treatment of cognitive impairment.