In the TMS phase of all experiments, participants sat with their forearms resting on the chair armrest and the table surface in front of two keypads (19-key numeric keypad; Adesso, Walnut, CA, USA). Participants placed the index finger against a key on the vertically placed keypad such that they could respond with a key press by moving the finger inward in a lateral abduction. This lateral movement of the finger is necessary to isolate the index

finger muscle for electromyographic (EMG) recording (see below). Surface EMG recordings were made via 10-mm-diameter Ag–AgCl hydrogel electrodes (Medical Supplies, Newbury Park, CA, USA) placed over the right first dorsal interosseous muscle (FDI – index finger). Ground electrodes were placed over the styloid process of the right

radius. The EMG signal was amplified using Angiogenesis inhibitor a Grass QP511 Quad AC Amplifier System Grass amplifier (Grass Technologies, West Warwick, RI, USA), Decitabine mouse with a band-pass filter between 30 Hz and 1 kHz and a notch filter at 60 Hz. Data were sampled at 2 kHz using a CED Micro 1401 mk II acquisition system, and displayed and recorded to disk using CED Signal v4 (Cambridge Electronic Design, Cambridge, UK). We used a MagStim 200-2 system (MagStim, Whitland, UK) with a figure-of-eight coil (7-cm diameter) to deliver a single test stimulus during task performance (Fig. 1B). The coil was positioned to produce the largest, reliable MEPs in the right FDI. Resting motor threshold was determined by finding the lowest stimulus intensity that produced MEPs of at least 0.05 mV amplitude on at least five of 10 trials (Rossini et al., 1994). Test stimulus intensity was set to about 110% of Rebamipide the resting motor threshold, as this level was found to produce an MEP that was approximately half of the participant’s maximum MEP amplitude. This ensured that the test stimulus intensity was on the ascending limb of the individual’s stimulus–response curve, so that both increases

and decreases in corticomotor excitability could be detected (Devanne et al., 1997). Each trial provided an MEP measurement for the FDI muscle. In Experiment 1, MEPs were categorized as ‘early’ or ‘late’, depending on the timing of the stimulation. MEPs from food trials for the two time-points were normalized by dividing by the average MEP from blank trials for that time-point. MEPs for early and late categories were further grouped into five urge levels, depending on the rating given by the participant in the pre-TMS phase of the study. In Experiments 2a and 2b, MEPs from money trials were normalized by dividing by the average MEP from blank trials. MEPs were grouped into two urge levels, strong ($5 trials) and weak ($0.1 trials). In all experiments, MEPs in each urge level were 10% winsorized, i.e. the smallest and the largest 10% of the MEPs were set to the MEPs at the 10% and the 90% percentile boundary, respectively.