SynthesisNeuroImage2013
A quantitative meta-analysis and review of motor learning in the human brain.
Synthesis in NeuroImage, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 305 papers, 10 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
305 citing papers in PubMed, 10 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Consistent cortico-basal ganglia-cerebellar activation in early motor sequence learning: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Translational psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Oscillatory dynamics of motor learning across adulthood life span: a systematic review.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2025Pooled it
- Using neuroimaging to assess brain activity and areas associated with surgical skills: a systematic review.Surgical endoscopy · 2024Pooled it
- The neural correlates of texture perception: A systematic review and activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging studies.Brain and behavior · 2023Pooled it
- Motor Memory Consolidation Deficits in Parkinson's Disease: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis.Journal of Parkinson's disease · 2023Pooled it
- Procedural Learning in Individuals with Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer's Dementia: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Neuropsychology review · 2021Pooled it
- Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Combined With Physical Training on the Excitability of the Motor Cortex, Physical Performance, and Motor Learning: A Systematic Review.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2021Pooled it
- Exercise and Physical Therapy Interventions for Children with Ataxia: A Systematic Review.Cerebellum (London, England) · 2019Pooled it
- Common and distinct neural correlates of dual-tasking and task-switching: a meta-analytic review and a neuro-cognitive processing model of human multitasking.Brain structure & function · 2019Pooled it
- The Impact of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Upper-Limb Motor Performance in Healthy Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2019Pooled it
- Effect of transcranial direct current stimulation on psychomotor skill acquisition during laparoscopic training: a randomized controlled trial.Surgical endoscopy · 2026Trial
- Transcranial direct current stimulation enhances delayed retention after 5 days of lower-limb motor skill learning.The Journal of physiology · 2026Trial
- Glutamatergic modulation of transcranial direct current stimulation over the premotor cortex combined with peripheral nerve stimulation promotes observation-execution-related cortical excitability and motor performance.The Journal of physiology · 2026Trial
- Effects of Different Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Targets for Enhancing Motor Learning: A Single-Blind Randomized Controlled Trial.Neural plasticity · 2026Trial
- Methylphenidate reorganizes cortical hierarchy through dopaminergic modulation.Nature communications · 2025Trial
- Commonality of neuronal coherence for motor skill acquisition and interlimb transfer.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Compared motor learning effects of motor cortical and cerebellar repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation during a serial reaction time task in older adults.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Implicit Motor Learning Under Anodal or Cathodal tDCS During fMRI Induces Partially Distinct Network Responses.The European journal of neuroscience · 2025Trial
- Non-invasive stimulation of the human striatum disrupts reinforcement learning of motor skills.Nature human behaviour · 2024Trial
- Neural correlates of fine motor grasping skills: Longitudinal insights into motor cortex activation using fNIRS.Brain and behavior · 2024Trial
245 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Neuroimaging studies have improved our understanding of which brain structures are involved in motor learning. Despite this, questions remain regarding the areas that contribute consistently across paradigms with different task demands. For instance, sensorimotor tasks focus on learning novel movement kinematics and dynamics, while serial response time task (SRTT) variants focus on sequence learning. These differing task demands are likely to elicit quantifiably different patterns of neural activity on top of a potentially consistent core network. The current study identified consistent activations across 70 motor learning experiments using activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis. A global analysis of all tasks revealed a bilateral cortical-subcortical network consistently underlying motor learning across tasks. Converging activations were revealed in the dorsal premotor cortex, supplementary motor cortex, primary motor cortex, primary somatosensory cortex, superior parietal lobule, thalamus, putamen and cerebellum. These activations were broadly consistent across task specific analyses that separated sensorimotor tasks and SRTT variants. Contrast analysis indicated that activity in the basal ganglia and cerebellum was significantly stronger for sensorimotor tasks, while activity in cortical structures and the thalamus was significantly stronger for SRTT variants. Additional conjunction analyses then indicated that the left dorsal premotor cortex was activated across all analyses considered, even when controlling for potential motor confounds. The highly consistent activation of the left dorsal premotor cortex suggests it is a critical node in the motor learning network.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.