Biology Study - Maguire Et Al Flashcards
What was the background of the study?
The hippocampus is a region of the brain that is involved with memory and navigation. Maguire reports that in some species of animals “hippocampal volumes” enlarged during season when demand for spatial ability is greatest. - hippocampus has plasticity
What is the aim of the study?
Maguire wanted to find out whether the hippocampus might also show plasticity among humans
What is the sample of the study?
16 right-handed male London Taxi drivers, they have to learn the Knowledge - at least 1.5 years since completing the Knowledge
What was the experimental design?
Independent measures
What was the research method?
Quasi experiment
What was the procedure?
The taxi driver all had a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan taken of their brain. These were analysed in two ways: pixel counting and voxel-based morphometry (VBM)
What were the findings of the study?
Significantly more grey matter in the posterior (rear) parts of their hippocampus.
Significantly less grey matter in the anterior (front) parts of their hippocampus
Was the procedure from the correlation part of the study?
The MRI scans of the taxi drivers were subjected to further analysis. Maguire was interested in whether there was a correlation between length of time as a taxi driver and volume of grey matter in the hippocampus.
What were the findings of the correlational part of the study?
There was a positive correlation between length of time as a taxi driver and volume of grey matter in the posterior part of the hippocampus
There was a negative correlation between length of time as a taxi driver and volume of grey matter in the anterior part of the hippocampus
What was a conclusion of the quasi-experimental part of the study?
Confirmed that the human brain (or at least the hippocampus) has plasticity
What was a conclusion of the correlation part of the study?
Suggests that changes in the hippocampus can occur in line with the demands placed on taxi drivers by their job
