Brain Scans

MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)

• A type of scan that uses strong magnetic fields and radio waves to produce images of inside the body.

• Strong magnetic fields cause disorientation of atoms in brain; reorientation = signal as to soft tissues density (pic of brain structure)

Maguire (2000) (quasi-experiment) – London Taxi Drivers - aim

to observe if London taxi drivers are different due to their memory-intense job

Maguire (2000) – London Taxi Drivers - procedure

• 16 right-handed British male taxi drivers; 50 right-handed British males (control)

• correlational study (no independent variable, quasi experiment); single-blind study (researchers don’t know whose scan is the taxi driver, and who is the normal person)

• Two types of MRI used:

  • VBM: density of gray matter (gray matter is active brain matter)

  • Pixel Count: size of hippocampus (counting pixels, how many are in the region of the hippocampus)

Maguire (2000) – London Taxi Drivers - results/findings

using MRI's they found that the Hippocampus can change based on environmental

Hippocampus

part of the brain known for short term memory storage