OBJECTIVE: Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is extensively used in basic and clinical neuroscience. Previous work has shown substantial residual variability in TMS effects even despite use of on-line visual feedback monitoring of coil position. Here, we aimed to evaluate if off-line denoising of variability induced by neuronavigated coil position and orientation deviations can enhance detection of TMS effects. METHODS: Retrospective modeling was used to denoise the impact of common neuronavigated coil position and rotation deviations during TMS experimental sessions on motor evoked potentials (MEP) to single pulse TMS. RESULTS: Neuronavigated coil deviations explained approximately 44% of total MEP amplitude variability. Offline denoising led to a 136.71% improvement in the signal to noise ratio (SNR) of corticospinal excitability measurements. CONCLUSIONS: Offline modeling enhanced detection of TMS effects by removing variability introduced by neuronavigated coil deviations. SIGNIFICANCE: This approach could allow more accurate determination of TMS effects in cognitive and interventional neuroscience.

Offline coil position denoising enhances detection of TMS effects