Motor Cortex Excitability Rises Then Falls in the Hour after Finger-Tapping Fatigue
Researchers at Sapienza University of Rome had 20 healthy young adults complete 10 consecutive blocks of finger tapping, then used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to track motor cortex excitability over the following 60 minutes. Excitability rose after the fatiguing task and drifted back to baseline, and participants whose tapping slowed most showed the largest increases. The findings were published in Clinical Neurophysiology on August 25, 2026, and the authors say they offer a framework for studying altered compensatory responses in neurological disorders.