Maguire (Taxi Drivers Hippocampus)

Question 1

Aim

Answer 1

Investigate the plasticity of the hippocampus in London Taxi drivers due to their extensive navigational experience. See if there is a correlation between driving experience and grey matter

Question 2

Sample

Answer 2

16 male London taxi drivers (androcentric) who had been licensed from 1.5 years- 42 years
Control group had 50 brain scans for VBM comparison and 16 for Pixel Counting comparison
All right handed and healthy
Matched on health, sex and age
One drivers data was not included because he had 42 years experience

Question 3

Method

Answer 3

Quasi experiment as the IV (amount of time they had been a taxi driver for) and the DV was the volume of the hippocampi

Question 4

Design

Answer 4

Independent measures design for the VBM comparison
Matched pairs design for Pixel Counting comparison

Question 5

Procedure

Answer 5

MRI scanner was used for the taxi drivers and a database of scans was used for the control group
This is analysed using VBM which eliminates overall brain size from being an extraneous variable
Pixel Counting is where the image is analysed by someone who doesn’t know whether the scan is of a taxi driver or a control and the pixels are counted to indicate the volume of the anterior, body, posterior and cross sections of the hippocampi
Controlled conditions
Ethical
Objective analysis

Question 6

Findings

Answer 6

Only difference in the brains was the hippocampus where the taxi drivers has more grey matter in the left and right posterior

Question 7

Conclusion

Answer 7

There are structural difference between the hippocampus of the taxi and drivers and the control group suggesting extensive practice of navigation affects the hippocampus