Transcranial static magnetic field stimulation of the human motor cortex

Non‐Technical Summary Non‐invasive neuromodulation of the human brain – with pulsed magnetic fields or small direct currents – is becoming increasingly popular for treating a variety of neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. In the present work we investigated in healthy humans the possibility of a non‐invasive modulation of motor cortex excitability by the application of static magnetic fields through the scalp. We found that transcranial static magnetic field stimulation (tSMS) can reduce the excitability of the motor cortex for a period that outlasts the time of the application of the magnetic field. Moreover, we demonstrated that these excitability changes take origin at the cortical level. These results suggest that tSMS using small static magnets may be a promising tool to modulate cerebral excitability in a non‐invasive, painless and reversible way.