Draganski et al. (2004)

Who and when

Draganski et al. (2004)

Method

Laboratory Experiment

Aim

To determine whether functional and structural changes could be detected in the human brain due to learning a new motor skill.

Participants

24 volunteers (21f 3m) between the ages of 20 and 24. All of them were nonjugglers prior to the experiment

Procedure

At the start of the study, each participant had an MRI scan to measure the initial grey matter in their brain and brain structure.

The 24 participants were allocated into 2 groups.

The juggling group

Taught a three ball cascade juggling routine, asked to practice it, and to notify the researchers when they had learned it.

After this they took a second MRI scan.

After this scan they were told to not juggle anymore, and then carried out a third scan 3 months later.

The other group was a control group

Findings

Before juggling the MRI scan showed no structural difference between the groups, however after juggling there was an increase in volume in the mid temporal area in both hemispheres, which is associated with visual memory. Three months after the participants stopped juggling, this difference decreased once again.

Conclusion

When learning a new skill, new neural path ways are created, which then due to a lack use, eventually get pruned.