Macquaire - London Taxi Drivers

title

London taxi drivers

year

200

researcher

macquire

aim

To investigate differences in the Brain between London Taxi Drivers to see functions of the hippocampus in spatial memeory.

method

quasi lab experimeny

particpants

16 healthy right-handed male licenced taxi drivers who studied from 10 months to 3.5 years Scans of 50 healthy right-handed males who did not drive taxis were included for comparis

procedyre

 Scans of 5o control particpants were slected from structural MRI scan database where the Taxi drivers were also scanned - particapnts below 32, older 62, females, left-handed males, those with health problems were excluldled Using an MRI to scan the taxi driver

findings

Posterior hippocampi of taxi drivers was larger than control subjects , with the anterior hipoocampal region larger in control subjects than in taxi drivers

strengths

• natural experiment

• control group

limitatiuons

gender and cultural bias

sampling bias