Technique used to study brain in relation to behaviour - Maguire + Draganski

Aim of Maguire

To investigate if previously learnt spatial memory will influence the weight and size of the hippocampus

Method of Maguire

• 16 right-handed male taxi drivers

• 50 right-handed males who don’t drive taxis as control

• taxi drivers had to have completed the “knowledge test” and have their license for 1.5 years

• control were taken from MRI database so their brains were already measured

Results of Maguire

• The posterior hippocampus of taxi drivers was significantly larger than the control condition

• The anterior hippocampus of taxi drivers was significantly smaller than the control condition

Conclusion of Maguire

In conclusion, previously learnt spatial memory affected the weight and size of the hippocampus because the pp who did the ‘knowledge test’ which was a tester for spatial memory, had a larger posterior hippocampus and a smaller anterior hippocampus.

Aim of Draganski

to investigate whether learning a new skill would have an effect on the brain

Method of Draganski

• 24 volunteers between 20/24 age with 21 females and 3 males

• All pp had never juggled before the study

• Each pp had an MRI scan at start of study to serve as base rate for grey matter and brain structure

• two conditions - jugglers and non-jugglers (control)

• jugglers had to practice 3 routines and stop when they mastered them

• then jugglers had a second MRI to compare with non-jugglers

Results of Draganski

There were no significant differences between grey matter in most of the brain for both conditions however the jugglers had significantly larger amounts of grey matter in the mid-temporal area of both hemispheres

Conclusion of Draganski

In conclusion, learning a new skill affected the amount of grey matter in the mid-temporal lobe as the pp who learnt juggling had significantly more grey matter in their mid-temporal lobe compared to the pp who did not learn juggling

MRI - Magnetic Resonance Imagery

• 3D pictures of the brain structures

• uses magnetic field and radio waves to map hydrogen molecules present in different brain tissues

• Can show tumours, brain bleeds, nerve damage, and stroke

How Results were measured

• Voxel-based morphometry used to study density of grey matter in brain

• Pixel counting used to get the area of the hippocampus

• PP were scanmed with MRI and then compared to control condition MRI scans

Critical thinking of MRI

Strengths

- MRI is a non-invasive technique which means there aren’t any injections or cutting, so pp avoided harm

- Use of an MRI is more ethical than using animals or cutting a brain open

Limitations

- The Use of an MRI could be Stress inducing as the machine is very loud so does not pass the avoiding stress ethical consideration