Version 1
: Received: 2 May 2018 / Approved: 3 May 2018 / Online: 3 May 2018 (08:45:50 CEST)
How to cite:
Habibollahi Saatlou, F.; Rogasch, N.C.; McNair, N.A..; Biabani, M..; Pillen, S.D.; Marshall, T.R.; Bergmann, T.O. MAGIC: a MATLAB Toolbox for External Control of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Devices. Preprints2018, 2018050057 (doi: 10.20944/preprints201805.0057.v1).
Habibollahi Saatlou, F.; Rogasch, N.C.; McNair, N.A..; Biabani, M..; Pillen, S.D.; Marshall, T.R.; Bergmann, T.O. MAGIC: a MATLAB Toolbox for External Control of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Devices. Preprints 2018, 2018050057 (doi: 10.20944/preprints201805.0057.v1).
Cite as:
Habibollahi Saatlou, F.; Rogasch, N.C.; McNair, N.A..; Biabani, M..; Pillen, S.D.; Marshall, T.R.; Bergmann, T.O. MAGIC: a MATLAB Toolbox for External Control of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Devices. Preprints2018, 2018050057 (doi: 10.20944/preprints201805.0057.v1).
Habibollahi Saatlou, F.; Rogasch, N.C.; McNair, N.A..; Biabani, M..; Pillen, S.D.; Marshall, T.R.; Bergmann, T.O. MAGIC: a MATLAB Toolbox for External Control of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Devices. Preprints 2018, 2018050057 (doi: 10.20944/preprints201805.0057.v1).
Abstract
The capacity to externally control transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) devices is becoming increasingly important in brain stimulation research. Here we introduce MAGIC (MAGnetic stimulator Interface Controller), an open-source MATLAB toolbox for controlling Magstim and MagVenture stimulators. MAGIC includes a series of MATLAB functions which allow the user to arm/disarm the stimulator, send triggers, change stimulator settings such as amplitude, interpulse intervals, and frequency, and receive stimulator setting information via a serial port connection between a computer and the stimulator. By providing external control capability, MAGIC enables greater flexibility in designing research protocols which require trial-by-trial changes of device settings to realize a priori trial randomization or interactive ad hoc adjustment of parameters during an ongoing experiment. MAGIC thus helps to prevent experimental confounds related to the block-wise variation of parameters and facilitates the integration of TMS with cognitive/sensory tasks, and the development of more adaptive brain state-dependent brain stimulation protocols.
TMS; remote control; serial port; MagVenture; MagStim
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.