Maguire et al (2000)

Question 1

What is some background to this study?

Answer 1

-The hippocampus is the region of the brain that is involved in spatial memory
-Maguire reports that in some species’ of animal, the volume of it enlarges during seasons when demand for spatial ability is greatest
-This suggests the hippocampus has plasticity

Question 2

What was the aim of this study?

Answer 2

To find out whether the hippocampus might also show plasticity among humans

Question 3

What is the sample for this study?

Answer 3

-16 right handed male London taxi drivers
-32 to 62 years old
-Chosen as London taxi drivers are supposed to know all roads and routes in London -> high demand on spatial memory
-All had been drivers for at least 1 1/2 years and had healthy general medical profiles

Question 4

What was the procedure of the quasi-experimental part of the study

Answer 4

-The taxi drivers all had MRI scans that were compared to those of a control group of 50
-All were right handed males aged 32-62
-The scans of the taxi drivers and control group were analysed in two ways:
-Pixel counting
-Voxel-Based Morphometry 3D
measurement of volume
-In both cases it was the volume of grey matter measured

Question 5

What were the findings of the quasi-experimental part of the study?