Bio : Neuroplasticity

Question 1

Researcher

Answer 1

Maguire

Question 2

Aim

Answer 2

Whether neuroplasticity and neural pruning occurred in London taxi drivers.

Question 3

what’s neural pruning

Answer 3

The process of removing neurons no longer used in the brain

Question 4

What’s Neuroplasticity

Answer 4

The brains ability to create neural networks, it allows neurons in the brain to adapt to injuries or changes in the enviornment.

Question 5

Describe

Answer 5

16 healthy male taxi drivers and 50 non-taxi drivers. drivers had an average experience of 14.3 years. Participants had to go through an MRI scan.

Question 6

Results

Answer 6

The MRI showed that the POSTERIOR HIPPOCAMPUS was significantly larger, while the ANTERIOR HIPPOCAMPUS was smaller in the taxi drivers.
There was a positive correlation between the size of the posterior hippocampus and years of experience taxi driving.

Question 7

Conclusion

Answer 7

This study shows how the repeated use of one part of the brain. POSTERIOR HIPPOCAMPUS, increases due to neuroplasticity, meanwhile the ANTERIOR decreases in size due to neural pruning as taxi drivers don’t use it as much.