How untidiness moves the motor system

Introduction

This database includes the raw data linked with the paper “How Untidiness Moves the Motor System”. In the dataset we reported healthy participants’ Motor Evoked Potentials (MEPs), elicited by means of single-pulse TMS over the primary motor cortex, at baseline and in response to viewing images of ordered and disordered images (and scrambled images as control condition), as well as individual scores to the Italian version of the Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory—Revised (OCI – R) scale. In this paper, we aimed to understand whether disorderly environments may elicit a tendency to restore order, which may be observed physiologically as modulation within corticospinal excitability.

Methods

We measured possible changes in corticospinal excitability, as reflected by the amplitude of motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) elicited by single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the primary motor cortex while participants viewed ordered and disordered rooms.

Results (in brief)

We found that images depicting disorderly environments suppressed excitability within the corticospinal tract, in line with prior findings that motor preparation is typically associated with decreased corticospinal excitability. Interestingly, this pattern was particularly evident in individuals that displayed subclinical levels of obsessive-compulsive traits.