Maguire Case Flashcards
What was the aim of the Maguire study?
To see whether the brains of London taxi drivers would be different as a result of the training they have to do to be certified.
Who were the participants?
Right-handed male taxi drivers who have completed “The Knowledge” and have had their license for at least 1.5 years
What was the sample size?
16 participants
What was the method?
The researchers compared the MRI scans of the 16 taxi drivers to those of 50 right-handed males who did not drive taxis, taken from the MRI database, with a range of ages. They were the controls. It was a correlational study, the was not IV not manipulated by researcher.
It was also a single-blind study; the researcher did not know whether she was looking at a scan of a taxi driver or a control.
How was the data from the MRIs used?
Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was used to measure
the density of grey matter in the brain Pixel counting was also used, which is counting pixels in images provided by MRI scan in order to calculate the area of the hippocampus.
What were the results of the study?
Pixel counting showed the posterior hippocampi of taxi drivers to be significantly larger relative to those of control subjects and the anterior hippocampi significantly smaller. VBM results showed that the volume of right posterior hippocampus correlated with the amount of time spent as a taxi driver. There were no differences in other parts. Maquire says this might suggest the hippocampus may change in response to environmental demands
What were the conclusions of the study?
The posterior hippocampus is involved when previously learned spatial information is used. The anterior hippocampal region more is more involved during the encoding of new environmental layouts.
