Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is thought to modulate brain function through methods of electromagnetic induction. Over the last few decades, a large body of studies have investigated the clinical applications of rTMS in a variety of patient populations for a diverse range of symptoms from depressive symptomology to post-stroke motor functioning. There is still no clear consensus, however, on how rTMS influences cognitive functioning in the healthy brain. We conducted a quantitative meta-analysis in order to evaluate whether offline rTMS (the delivery of rTMS when not actively engaged in a cognitive task) influences cognition in healthy adults. More specifically, we examined studies that applied rTMS to the dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (DLFPC) and that tracked cognitive outcomes both before and after a prescribed period of rTMS. Fifteen studies met our inclusion criteria. Cognitive performance was pooled and examined across studies for four cognitive domains (working memory, executive functioning, episodic memory, and visual perception) and under two types of stimulation conditions (excitatory and inhibitory rTMS). Whereas excitatory rTMS was associated with statistically reliable effects for improving executive functioning, inhibitory rTMS was associated with statistically reliable effects for improving episodic memory and visual perception. However, the magnitude of these effects was small and no other significant effects were observed. Though future studies are still needed, our findings suggest that offline forms of rTMS may have limited utility in affecting cognitive functioning when applied to the DLPFC in healthy adults, irrespective of cognitive domain or stimulation type.

反复经颅磁刺激（rTMS）被认为通过电磁感应的方法调节脑功能。在过去的几十年中，大量研究针对各种症状（从抑郁症状到中风后运动功能）在各种患者人群中研究了rTMS的临床应用。然而，关于rTMS如何影响健康大脑的认知功能，目前尚无明确共识。我们进行了定量的荟萃分析，以评估离线rTMS（未积极参与认知任务时的rTMS交付）是否会影响健康成年人的认知。进一步来说，我们研究了将rTMS应用于背外侧前额叶皮层（DLFPC）并追踪rTMS规定期限前后的认知结果的研究。十五项研究符合我们的纳入标准。在四个认知领域（工作记忆，执行功能，情节记忆和视觉感知）以及两种刺激条件（兴奋性和抑制性rTMS）下，对研究的认知表现进行汇总和检查。兴奋性rTMS与改善执行功能的统计学可靠效应相关，而抑制性rTMS与改善情节记忆和视觉感知的统计学可靠效应相关。但是，这些影响的程度很小，没有观察到其他显着影响。尽管仍需要进一步的研究，