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You can use BOTH studies in a question on NEUROPLASTICITY. Maguire (2000) can also be used to answer a question on LOCALISATION OF FUNCTION
You can use BOTH studies in a question on NEUROPLASTICITY. Maguire (2000) can also be used to answer a question on LOCALISATION OF FUNCTION
Aim: To investigate the use of MRI brain-imaging technology to investigate spatial navigation in London black cab taxi drivers
Participants: 16 healthy, right-handed male London black cab taxi drivers who had passed ‘The Knowledge’, a test of spatial navigation, aged 32-62 years with a mean age of 44 years. They had all been taxi drivers for at least 18 months, with the highest number of years as a taxi driver at 42 years
Procedure: The participants were placed in an MRI scanner and their brains were scanned. The MRI measured the volume of grey matter in the hippocampus of each participant, and this was then compared to pre-existing scans of 50 healthy, right-handed males (the control group). Grey matter was measured using voxel-based morphemetry (VBM) which focuses on the density of grey matter and pixel counting
Results: The posterior hippocampi of the taxi drivers showed a greater volume of grey matter than that of the controls, who had increased grey matter in their anterior hippocampi compared to the taxi drivers. Maguire also carried out a correlational analysis which showed a positive correlation between volume of posterior hippocampal grey matter and length of time spent as a taxi driver
Conclusion: The posterior hippocampus may be linked to spatial navigation skills
Evaluation of Maguire (2000)
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Aim: TTo investigate whether poverty experienced in childhood is shown in delayed brain development using MRI scanning
Participants: Children who were already enrolled on a 10-year longitudinal study of Preschool Depression: 145 right-handed children from the USA. The children were categorised as living in poverty
Procedure: The children had undergone regular testing: once a year (over 3-6 years) which consisted of a series of tests aimed to measure their cognitive, emotional and social skills. The researchers also collected data on how close the children were to their caregivers as well as incidences of any negative and stressful events in their lives. Each child then had two MRI scans in which the whole brain was scanned (session 1) or just the hippocampus and the amygdala (session 2)
Results: Both the hippocampus and the amygdala showed less white and grey matter in the MRI scans. However, if the child had experienced positive care from adults there was a less negative effect on the hippocampus. Difficult and stressful life events only affected the left hippocampus
Conclusion: Poverty does appear to have a negative effect on brain development in childhood, but this can be reduced by the quality of caregiving the child experiences
Evaluation of Luby et al. (2013)
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Limitations
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