The time course of idiom processing.

Recent neuropsychological and neurophysiological studies have suggested that the neural correlates of idiom processing are predominantly located in the left Brodmann's area (BA) 22 and, to some extent, in the prefrontal cortex. The present study explores the temporal dynamics of left prefrontal and temporal cortex in idiom processing by using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in normal subjects. Forty-five opaque highly familiar idioms and 45 literal sentences were used. Forty-three subjects completed 5 blocks of 18 trials (9 idioms, 9 literal sentences) corresponding to 4 stimulation conditions (left prefrontal, left temporal, vertex, no-stimulation baseline). Each subjec…