In the Rijnhuizen Tokamak Project (RTP) plasmas with electron cyclotron heating (ECH), a transient rise of the core T_e is observed when hydrogen pellets are injected tangentially to induce fast cooling of the peripheral region. The core T_e rise is a sharp function of the normalized power deposition radius (ρ_dep). The strongest effect (δT_e up to 80%) is observed when ρ_dep is just inside the q = 1 surface, whereas only modest effects are seen with larger or smaller ρ_dep. The rise is due to both a steepening of the T_e profile between the q = 1 and q = 2 surfaces, and a peaking inside ρ_dep.