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Maguire's study of changes to the hippocampus in taxi drivers (2000) -…
Maguire's study of changes to the hippocampus in taxi drivers (2000)
AIMS
to investigate differences in the brain between London taxi drivers and hippocampi volumes would be observed. Also to further investigate the functions of the hippocampus in spatial memory
METHOD
independent measures design, comparing brains of taxi drivers to not taxi drivers. Correlation analysis carried out to see if hippocampal volume increases with time
PROCEDURE
taxi driver's brains were scanned by an MRI machine and the scans were compared to the control group. The measurement of brain differences used two techniques:
1) VBM was used to measure the grey matter volume and indicate general differences between the groups
2) Pixel counting on 26 slices of the scans
posterior hippocampus (6 slices)
hippocampus body (12 slices)
anterior hippocampus (6 slices)
PARTICIPANTS
taxi drivers: 16 right hand males ages 32-62. All had been drivers for at least 1.5 years and all healthy
control group: 50 right hand males aged 32-62 who had been scanned for the MRI database for a uni in London. No health conditions
CONCLUSIONS
"the data presented in this report provide evidence of regionally specific structural differences between the hippocampi of licensed London taxi drivers and those of control subjects"
EVALUATIONS
method: quasi design may have been affected by subject variables, however lots of variables were put in place. Physiological methods were objective however may be costly. Correlation analysis helped establish a relationship between grey matter and being a taxi driver, however not confirmed if it is a cause-and-effect relationship
data: precise measurements were taken from the scans in quantitative data. This enables the reliability and validity of the research to be established
ethics: ethical as pps were given information and were not deceived or harmed
validity: the pps were valid as they were matched in age, gender etc and the fact they measured the hippocampus in two ways makes it even more valid.
ecological validity: being scanned is not true to life, however it is unlikely that this would effect the behaviour
reliability: highly controlled lab experiment with quantitative data so could easily be replicated and tested again
sample: the sample was not typical of the general population, for example there is a clear gender bias and we cannot assume female brains will be exactly the same
ethnocentrism: we can argue that it is not ethnocentric as it is a species-specific behaviour, however, there may be something unique about having The Knowledge of London
science: highly controlled conditions and data gathered by MRI scans so an objective method of data collection
usefulness: helps us further our understanding of how the brain works and provides evidence for brain plasticity. Could potentially help us find cures for brain damage
RESULTS
VBM analysis showed that in drivers there was an increase in grey matter in the left and right hippocampi, an increase on the posterior but a decrease on the anterior.