Biology - Maguire (2000)

Question 1

Neuroplasticity

Answer 1

The brain’s ability to alter its own structure following changes within the body
or in the external environment

Question 2

Hippocampus

Answer 2

A structure of the brain which is involved in emotion, memory consolidation, and
spatial navigation

Question 3

Localization of function

Answer 3

the theory that specific parts of the brain control specific aspects of
brain function.

Question 4

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

Answer 4

Noninvasive medical imaging test, creating images of the
structure of the brain- application of magnetic field that aligns the proton spins, when field is
turned off the protons go through precession (return process creates radio signal that makes
image).

Question 5

Neural Network

Answer 5

Usually called a neural circuit, a group of neurons interconnected by synapses
to carry out a specific function when activated

Question 6

Aim

Answer 6

To see whether the brains of London taxi drivers would be somehow different as a result of
the exceptional training that they have to do to be certified (what is known as “the Knowledge”)

Question 7

Procedure

Answer 7

16 right-handed male London taxi drivers MRIs were compared with the MRI scans of 50
right-handed males who did not drive taxis.
- To be in this study taxi drivers had to have completed “the knowledge” test and have had
their license for 1.5 years.
- Correlational and single-blind- looking to see if there was a relationship between the
number of years of driving a taxi and the anatomy of ones brain.
- Two different techniques of evaluating the MRI: voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and
pixel counting. Voxel-based morphometry was used to measure the density of grey
matter and pixel counting was counting the pixels in the images to calculate the area of
hippocampus.

Question 8

Results

Answer 8

Pixel counting revealed that the posterior hippocampal region in drivers was larger
relative to the non-drivers and the anterior hippocampus was smaller.
- VBM showed that the volume of the right posterior hippocampi correlated with the
amount of time spent as a taxi driver.
- Appears that the posterior hippocampus is involved when previously learned spatial
information is used, whereas the anterior hippocampal region may be more involved
during the encoding of new environmental layouts.

Question 9

Evaluation

Answer 9

Quasi-experiment- no cause and effect
- Single-blind control was used to avoid researcher bias
- Cannot argue that MRI has low ecological validity because the participants were not
asked to do anything while in the scanner.
- Sampling bias, however majority of London taxi drivers are male-still difficult to
generalize
- Ethically sound- MRI does not pose any health risks and all participants gave consent.