Cerebral dowsing

The very nature of transformation means that internal parts will inevitably be relocated depending on which form the Cybertronian is in. As such, a 'bot's head may not always be located at the forefront of their alternate mode. There do however exist those who are capable of locating another's brain module in alternate mode, an art known as cerebral dowsing.

Fiction

2005 IDW continuity

The Outlier Damus was adept at the art of cerebral dowsing. Following the end of the Great War, when Damus had taken on the name of "Tarn", he led the Decepticon Justice Division to attack the Lost Light in orbit of Ofsted XVII. When Tarn had defeated a group of Autobots, he forced them all to transform into their alternate modes, so he could harvest their still warm transformation cogs, before using his skill to execute them all via a shot to the brain.

When Skids, Getaway, and Riptide explored the wrecked ship, they found the mass grave, the twin bore holes on each corpse allowing Skids to piece together that the DJD had struck. slaughterhouse