title: Transcranial magnetic stimulation reveals high test-retest reliability for phosphenes but not for suppression of visual perception.
abstract: 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).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study demonstrates a rather limited value of the TMS-induced suppression of visual perception for studies with repeated measurements.
authors.affiliation: Clinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Philipps-University of Marburg, Germany. m.siniatchkin@pedneuro.uni-kiel.de
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Siniatchkin
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schlicke
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Stephani
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010719:Phosphenes / Q000502:physiology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012684:Sensory Thresholds / Q000502:physiology; D050781:Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult