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A combination of 5 Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over the left primary somatosensory cortex together with tactile coactivation applied to the right index-finger representation (coac+rTMS) boosted tactile discrimination ability tested on the right index-finger. Applying coactivation alone caused a 0.25 mm lowering in tactile discrimination thresholds. In contrast, after coac+rTMS we found a significant further improvement of discrimination thresholds in comparison to the coactivation-induced perceptual changes alone. We demonstrate that the individual further improvement after coac+rTMS depended on the effectiveness of the coactivation protocol when applied alone. Subjects, who showed little gain in tactile performance after coactivation alone, showed the largest improvement after coac+rTMS implying that the combined application was selective for poor learners. The selective effects of coac+rTMS are discussed in respect to N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor activation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]