Objective    To investigate activated brain regions in healthy volunteers during digital working memory task by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technique.     Methods    Twelve right-handed volunteers were subjected to digital working memory test and fMRI.  Block-design

memory task and control task were adopted in the experiment alternatively.  SPM 99 was used to analyze the data and locate the activated brain regions.     Results    The Brodmann Area (BA) 6/9/46 in the frontal lobe

the BA 7/40 in the parietal lobe

bilateral hippocampus

cingulate gyrus

thalamus

the caudate nucleus and the cerebellum were activated during the task (P0.01) . However

the frontal lobe and the parietal lobe were activated with the remarkable left predominance and the frontal lobe with left predominance was the most activated region during the digital working memory task.     Conclusion    In human brain

the left frontal lobe plays an important role in manipulating the information of the digital working memory. Other cortex and some subcortex regions are also indispensable in the process.