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Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) can interfere with linguistic performance when delivered over language areas. At low frequency (1 Hz), rTMS is assumed to decrease cortical excitability; however, the degree of TMS effect on cortical language areas may depend on the localization of the stimulation coil with respect to the inter-individual anatomo-functional variations. Hence, we aimed at investigating individual brain areas involved in semantic and phonological auditory processes. We hypothesized that active rTMS targeted over Wernicke's area might modify the performance during a language-fragment-detection task. Sentences in native or foreign languages were presented to 12 right-handed male healthy volunteers during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). 3D-functional maps localized the posterior temporal activation (Wernicke) in each subject and MRI anatomical cortical …