Maguire et al (2000) Flashcards
What is the limbic system?
It is closely involved with behaviours that satisfy certain motivational, learning and emotional
needs including feeding, fighting, escape, and mating.
What is the role of the Hippocampus?
Creating new memories. It plays an important role in facilitating spatial memory and navigation
What is the knowledge?
London taxi drivers have to acquire extensive spatial and navigational information (pass The Knowledge)
on the city of London to gain their taxi driving licence.
What was the aim of reserved by Maguire et al?
To examine whether structural changes could be detected in the brain of people with extensive experience of spatial navigation.
What research method was used in research by Maguire?
A Quasi/natural experiment.
The study used an matched pairs design.
What was the IV in research by Maguire?
whether the participant was a London taxi driver or a person who
did not drive taxis, this was naturally varying and so could not be manipulated or controlled by the researchers.
What was the DV in research by Maguire?
The volume of the hippocampi including their anterior, body and posterior regions; measured by analysing MRI scans of participants’ brain using
the two techniques of VBM and pixel counting.
What was the sample used?
Experimental group: 16 taxi drivers, right-handed, male London taxi drivers, mean age 44 years, mean
time as a licensed London taxi driver 14.3 years.
Control group: people who did not drive taxis (50 for the VBM analysis, 16 for the pixel counting) were matched for health, handedness, sex, mean age and age range.
Outline the procedure used in research by Maguire
The scans of the control group were taken from a structural MRI data base.
The taxi drivers were scanned using:
VBM identifies differences in grey matter density in different regions of the brain.
Pixel counting compared d the volume of anterior, body and posterior cross-sections.
What were the key findings?
VBM analysis showed no significant differences between the brains of the two groups except:
Taxi drivers had increased grey matter volume in the right and left posterior hippocampi.
Pixel counting showed:
Taxi drivers had a significantly greater posterior hippocampal volume than controls.
Controls had a significantly greater anterior right hippocampal volume than the taxi drivers.
Correlations showed a significant positive correlation between the length of time as a taxi driver and the right posterior hippocampal volume,
but a negative correlation for the anterior hippocampal volume.
What were the main conclusions from research by Maguire?
There are regionally specific structural differences between the hippocampi of licensed London taxi drivers compared to those who do not drive London taxis.
It can be suggested that the changes in the arrangement of hippocampal grey matter are acquired i.e. due to nurture.
Findings also indicate the possibility of local plasticity in the structure of a normal human brain.
