How were the brains of London cab drivers who passed the exam different from those who failed the exam?
How were the brains of London cab drivers who passed the exam different from those who failed the exam? Now, with the exam over, the researchers found an increase in grey matter -- the nerve cells in the brain where processing takes place -- in the back part of the hippocampus of the trainees who passed the test. Those that failed, or never learned, had no changes to their brain structure.
Do black cab drivers have bigger brains?
Previous studies have shown that taxi drivers have a larger hippocampus compared to non-taxi drivers. This is interesting as this brain region shrinks and becomes damaged in Alzheimer's disease, leading to symptoms of memory loss and confusion associated with the disease.
How hard is the London taxi test?
Introduced in the mid 19th Century, The Knowledge requires drivers to memorise 25,000 streets and 100,000 landmarks within a six-mile radius of Charing Cross. Successful applicants have to pass up to a dozen interviews with the entire process taking up to four years.
What was the Maguire study?
What was the aim of Maguire et al's study? To investigate whether changes (plasticity) could be detected in the brains of London taxi drivers and to further investigate the functions of the hippocampus in spatial memory.
Do London cabbies have remarkable brains?
“London cabbies have remarkable brains,” said Hugo Spiers, a professor of cognitive neuroscience who is leading the study with several graduate students. “Specifically, their brains' are larger in a region that shrinks early in Alzheimer's disease — the hippocampus.”
What is the taxi cab syndrome?
Taxi drivers, as well as other professional drivers categories, may experience genitourinary disturbances such as voiding dysfunction, urinary infections but also infertility, urolithiasis, bladder cancer, also called “taxi cab syndrome”[13].