Developing fMRI Protocol for Mathematics Working Memory Functions: Block Paradigm

Since block paradigm was the basic and frequently used paradigm for fMRI study, there are a lot of protocol design that had been used among the researcher. This study modified the frequently used mathematics working memory protocol in block paradigm and compared them in order to get the reliable protocol between them. Two functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) protocols for mathematics working memory functions (cognitive) were developed and conducted to 8 volunteers. Both protocol used block paradigm design, first protocol (frequently used by other researchers) used 180 measurements while the second protocol (newly modified) used 371 measurements. Each volunteer was given several set of arithmetic question in fMRI and need to answer them by mental calculation using both type of protocols. All the raw data from both protocol were analyzed and compared by Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM8) to get the most significant results protocol for arithmetic task. The results obtain showed that the second protocol (newly modified) produced better significant activation in frontal lobe, parietal lobe and temporal lobe for mathematics working memory functions, while the first protocol (frequently used) get poor result which is only activated in occipital lobe for visual information processing functions and no other activation cluster in another brain area.