Maguire et al Flashcards
What was the aim of Maguire’s study?
To find out if changes in the brain could be detected by those with extensive navigation experiences.
to find out weather the hippocampi in London taxi drivers will be structurally differnt to those who don’t have extensive naigational experience.
What was the method, IV and DV used in Maguire’s study?
Quasi- In a lab setting but ps were already a taxi driver or a control.
IV-Weather ps were london taxi drivers or non-taxi drivers
DV- the volume of the hippocampus
What was the smaple in Maguire’s study?
16 right-handed male taxi drivers with a mean age of 44 (32-62). Experience of a London taxi driver was 1.5- 42 years. all healthy and training took place over 2 years.
Control- 50ps on MRI database.
What was the procedure to Maguire’s study?
13 of the control group scans were used to produce an image against whcih all scans were judged using a technique called voxel based morphometry. To calculate V og grey matter, and image-analysis technique called pixel counting was used to impact 16 taxi drivers with 16 matched control. The total hippocampal volume was measured and compared- 26 ‘visual’ slices were taken.
What were the results in Maguire’s study?
Increased volume of grey matter in both the left and right hippocampi in the taxi drivers brains.
Correlational analysis revealed that the volume of the right posterior hippocampus increased as moths of being a taxi driver increased.
taxi drivers had greater volume in their hippocampus whereas no taxi drivers had greater volume in their left anterior indicating a redistribution.
What did the conclusions for Maguire’s study state?
The distribution of grey matter in the hippocampus changes with use because the posterior hippocampus stores information about spqatial relations in the environment so it’s volume increases in reponse to demand for navigational skills. As taxi develop a better understanding of routes and locations, improving their cognintive maps over time, the volume of the posterior hippocampus increased.
Explain what an MRI scan measured in this study by Maguire
The MRI scanning technique measures the volume of specific brain areas. In this study, it measured the volume of grey matter in the hippocampus.
Outline one limitation of the sample in Maguire’s study
The sample were all male which makes the smaple androcentric. meaning the reasults can’t be generalised to the brains of female taxi drivers or the smaple is jo represntative of the brains of female taxi drivers.
Identify 2 controls used in Maguire’s study
-All ps were right-handed and male
-The pixel counter was blind to all brain scna in terms of weather they belonged to a taxi driver or a non-taxi driver
Identify two techniques used to analyse MRI scans in Maguire’s study
Pixel counting and Voxel based Morphemtry
Outline one function of the hippocampus as described in this study.
The hippocampus plays a key role in spatial memory and navigation.
Why were taxi drivers and non- taxi drivers used in maguire’s study?
As taxi driving requires a high degree of navigation and spatial memory
What is the key theme for Maguire’s study?
Brain plasticity
