"In this study, the effect of the transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) on the continuous voluntary movement of the finger was investigated. We measured the trajectory of the thumb tip and electromyogram (EMG) of the hand and forearm muscles after the TMS of the primary motor cortex area (M1) during continuous voluntary rotation of the thumb. The results showed that the velocity of the thumb tip was accelerated right after the TMS followed by the deceleration. It was indicated that enhance and suppression of the muscle activity by the TMS resulted in the change of the finger velocity in the voluntary movement."
-- http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/login.jsp?tp=&arnumber=5109267&url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fxpls%2Fabs_all.jsp%3Farnumber%3D5109267You have come across various blog postings cataloging experiment involving the insertion of magnets under the skin of the fingers, for enhanced magnetic touch. Body hacking abounds.
We're all waiting for tDCS, etc. But watch: http://www.lenoxhilltms.com/
And I had to double take during that introductory video when they discussed verifying proper placement of magnets over the prefrontal cortex, regarding their thumb test.
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I'm in vim and on http://typing.tk. Call TMS quackery all you want if you want. Of course this is anecdotal, but I have no conceptual framework to describe this other than "cog hacking."
With hardware store magnets. Even now my teeth and jaws tingle. All of the side effects of TMS, and +2 Dexterity.
Had to share.