TMS laboratory
In addition to recording brain activity, it is also possible to stimulate the brain from the outside to modulate or even generate neuronal activity. In TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation), a strong, rapidly-changing magnetic field is focused on a cortical area, which causes an electric field in the tissue and drives neurons in that area to fire. With this kind of stimulation we can, for instance, cause contractions in selected muscles or alterations in perception.
University of Jyväskylä houses a neuronavigated TMS-EEG laboratory—the Functional Brain Lab (FBL)— in of the Faculty of Sports and Health Sciences. There are currently three TMS systems available for research use that can be combined with various stimulation and recording systems (e.g. EMG, dynamometers and other biomechanical recordings).