Maguire

Question 1

What is the hippocampus?

Answer 1

area of the brain assosiated with spatial memory

Question 2

What is plastic change?

Answer 2

The ability of brain structures to change depending on needed behaviour

Question 3

What was the aim of the study?

Answer 3

to investigate whether behaviour can affect the brain and whether people with high spatial navigational skills had a larger hippocampus

Question 4

Describe the experimental group

Answer 4

16 right handed Male London Taxi Drivers All driving more than 1.5 years mean 14.3 years mean age 44 32-62

Question 5

Describe the sample in the control group

Answer 5

50 right handed males age 32-62 who did not drive taxis

Question 6

Describe the procedure

Answer 6

Participants underwent an MRI scan which were then analysed with pixel counting and voxel based morphomotry
Both measure the volume of grey matter in the brain.

Question 7

What were the findings of the study?

Answer 7

Taxi drivers had a higher volume of grey matter in their posterior hippocampi
Control had a higher volume of grey matter in the anterior hippocampi

Question 8

What conclusions were drawn from the study?

Answer 8

There are structural differences between the hippocampi of taxi drivers
Navigational skills are assosiated with grey matter
Grey matter is aquired as a result of nature

Question 9

What are some evaluations of the study?

Answer 9

Quasi experiment - both s + w
Lab experiment