A systematic review of fMRI studies of healthy adult human brain activation on learning and memory patterns for numerals

Abstract

This systematic review examines the empirical evidence from previous fMRI studies on brain activation areas for learning and memory patterns for numerals to understand the question of the brain activation areas found from previous fMRI studies on learning and memory patterns for numerals. Relevant articles in the fields of psychology, neuroscience, paediatrics, and education were extracted from the PubMed database. Keyword searches included "learning", "memory", "brain", "digits", "numerals", and "fMRI". The database search was conducted from July 2022 to August 2022. The data collected was limited to English texts, and studies involving animal experiments were excluded. The remaining articles were screened based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Articles included in this review were selected from the database search between 1999 to 2022. Ten full-text articles were identified and evaluated. Examination of brain activation regions in learning and memory patterns for numerals revealed that 30% of studies (n=3) found activation in the hippocampus, inferior parietal lobe and parietal lobe. Subsequently, 20% of the studies (n=2) found activation in the anterior cingulate, caudate nucleus, cerebellum, frontal lobe, inferior frontal gyrus, inferior temporal gyrus, medial temporal lobe, occipital lobe, prefrontal cortex, striatum, and thalamus. The frontoparietal network is considered important for working memory, while the limbic areas are essential for learning and memory. Therefore, future studies should look more closely at the brain's functional and structural regions involved in learning and a more specific memory system.