Enhancing analogic reasoning with rTMS over the left prefrontal cortex

The authors utilized repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in 16 normal volunteers to investigate the role of the left dorsolateral pref rontal cortex (PFC) in analogic reasoning, rTMS over the left and right PFC , over the left motor cortex, and sham stimulation over the left PFC were a dministered during memory and analogic reasoning conditions. rTMS over the left PFC led to a significant reduction in response times only in the analo gy condition without affecting accuracy. These results indicate that the le ft PFC is relevant for analogic reasoning and that rTMS applied to the PFC can speed up solution time.