Table 6.

Effects of TMS over the FEF on visuo-spatial attention, visual awareness and perceptual modulation.

Function /Task	TMS parameters	Effects	Studies	Interpretation
Saliency map	Single-pulses over the right FEF	Increased the distractor-related deviation of saccade trajectory	Walker et al., 2009	FEF participates in the elaboration of a saliency map (enhancement of target-related activity and/or suppression of distractor-related activity)
Coupling between attention and eye movements	2 pulses separated by 40 ms over the right FEF	Delayed saccade latency for TMS applied in two time windows (early for pro-saccades and late for pro- and anti-saccade)	Juan et al., 2008	Distinct visual stimulus processing (early time window) and saccade preparation (late time window), hence dissociation between attention and motor preparation
	3 pulses at 33 Hz or single-pulses over the right or left FEF	Modulation of discrimination performance on locations to which eye movements are being prepared (when contralateral to TMS location)	Neggers et al., 2007; Van Ettinger-Veenstra et al., 2009	The coupling between attention and eye movements can be modulated by TMS
Visual search, spatial priming (and working memory), switch detection	TMS at 10 Hz for 500 ms or double-pulses over the right FEF	Disrupted visual search	Muggleton et al., 2003; O'Shea et al., 2004; Kalla et al., 2008	Right FEF is involved in visual search, particularly when the visual target is neither salient nor predictable.
	TMS at 10 Hz for 500 ms over the left FEF	Disrupted spatial priming; increased color switch costs	O'Shea et al., 2007; Campana et al., 2007; Muggleton et al., 2010	Left FEF would be an area of convergence and integration of memory traces during the preparation of an overt motor response
	TMS at 10 Hz for 500 ms over the right or left FEF	Disrupted spatial priming by right (but not left) TMS and disrupted visual search by right (but not left) FEF TMS stimulation and disrupted. Effects found for both near and far space	Lane et al., 2012, 2013	Right and left FEF involved in visual search; right FEF involved in spatial priming. Effects are depth-independent (near/far space)
	single-pulses over the right or left FEF	disrupted trans-saccadic memory of multiple objects	Prime et al., 2010	FEF is involved in spatial working memory (or there is a spatial working memory area near the FEF)
Top-down influence of the FEF on visual areas	5 pulses at 10 Hz over the right FEF (TMS-EEG experiment)	modulated attention-related ongoing EEG activity as well as visual-evoked pontentials	Taylor et al., 2007	FEF modulates the excitability of visual areas
	5 pulses at 9 Hz over the right FEF (TMS-fMRI experiment)	modulated BOLD activity within areas V1-V4 (increased for peripheral and decreased for central visual field); enhanced perceived contrast for peripheral relative to central visual stimuli	Ruff et al., 2006
	1 conditioning pulse over the right or left FEF 20–40 ms before 1 test pulse over MT/V5	Conditioning pulse decreased the intensity needed for the test pulse to induce a phosphene	Silvanto et al., 2006
Visual discrimination, detection, awareness	Single-pulses over the right or left FEF	Decreased RT or increased sensitivity, bilaterally (i.e., for right and left targets) after right FEF stimulation and contralaterally (i.e., for left targets) after left FEF stimulation. Effects modulated by attention and shaped by individual connectivity	Grosbras and Paus, 2002, 2003; Chanes et al., 2012; Quentin et al., 2013	TMS over the FEF increases background activity (brings it closer to a perceptual threshold) and/or boosts relevant neural population
	4 pulses at 30 Hz or 50 Hz over the right FEF	30 Hz stimulation increased sensitivity; 50 Hz stimulation relaxed response criterion. Effects shaped by individual differences of fronto-parietal connectivity between the FEF and the IPS	Chanes et al., 2013; Quentin et al., 2014	There is a frequency multiplexing of several functions within the FEF; TMS entraining rhythmic activity potentially mimicks attentional effects
	5 pulses at 20 Hz over the left FEF	Decreased the RT cost of invalid cueing before contralateral target	Smith et al., 2005	As TMS increased performance at cued locations, it also disrupts inhibition of processing at unattended location