Comments on: How acquiring The Knowledge changes the brains of London cab drivers http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2011/12/08/acquiring-the-knowledge-changes-the-brains-of-london-cab-drivers/ Mon, 26 Nov 2012 12:00:51 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 By: Devon Heffer http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2011/12/08/acquiring-the-knowledge-changes-the-brains-of-london-cab-drivers/#comment-13751 Devon Heffer Thu, 15 Dec 2011 00:30:10 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/?p=5963#comment-13751 Please tell me someone has read "The Book of Dave" by Will Self. I'm actually quite shocked that it hasn't entered into the discussion somehow. The Knowledge factors HEAVILY into the plot. Please tell me someone has read “The Book of Dave” by Will Self. I’m actually quite shocked that it hasn’t entered into the discussion somehow. The Knowledge factors HEAVILY into the plot.

]]> By: Ed Yong http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2011/12/08/acquiring-the-knowledge-changes-the-brains-of-london-cab-drivers/#comment-13750 Ed Yong Sat, 10 Dec 2011 00:06:08 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/?p=5963#comment-13750 Really? Why not? Certainly, the aerobics explanation isn't going to explain the size increase in taxi drivers! Really? Why not? Certainly, the aerobics explanation isn’t going to explain the size increase in taxi drivers!

]]> By: Zen Faulkes http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2011/12/08/acquiring-the-knowledge-changes-the-brains-of-london-cab-drivers/#comment-13749 Zen Faulkes Fri, 09 Dec 2011 17:34:19 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/?p=5963#comment-13749 On a related note, it's not just spatial learning that increases hippocampal volume. Aerobic exercise can do that, too: http://neurodojo.blogspot.com/2011/11/aerobics-grows-your-brain-but-does-it.html The authors of the paper claim this increase is associated with increased spatial memory, though I am not sold on the evidence for that. On a related note, it’s not just spatial learning that increases hippocampal volume. Aerobic exercise can do that, too:

http://neurodojo.blogspot.com/2011/11/aerobics-grows-your-brain-but-does-it.html

The authors of the paper claim this increase is associated with increased spatial memory, though I am not sold on the evidence for that.

]]> By: Harrow http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2011/12/08/acquiring-the-knowledge-changes-the-brains-of-london-cab-drivers/#comment-13748 Harrow Fri, 09 Dec 2011 15:17:58 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/?p=5963#comment-13748 "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth, a compositor by his left thumb, or a London cabbie by his enlarged hippocampus, care about the finer shades of analysis and deduction!" --Sherlock Holmes, "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches", 1892 -Harrow. “Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth, a compositor by his left thumb, or a London cabbie by his enlarged hippocampus, care about the finer shades of analysis and deduction!” –Sherlock Holmes, “The Adventure of the Copper Beeches”, 1892

-Harrow.

]]> By: James Lloyd http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2011/12/08/acquiring-the-knowledge-changes-the-brains-of-london-cab-drivers/#comment-13747 James Lloyd Fri, 09 Dec 2011 11:48:42 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/?p=5963#comment-13747 Awesome summary. I wish there was a Narnia in London! Awesome summary. I wish there was a Narnia in London!

]]> By: ben http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2011/12/08/acquiring-the-knowledge-changes-the-brains-of-london-cab-drivers/#comment-13746 ben Fri, 09 Dec 2011 11:32:18 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/?p=5963#comment-13746 At the end of the article Ms. Maguire points out the irony that she cannot navigate herself out of the proverbial wet paper bag, yet has devoted her career to understanding how other people manage... and it occurs to me that there are worse ways to spend a life than working out a better answer for "Why?" than "Because." At the end of the article Ms. Maguire points out the irony that she cannot navigate herself out of the proverbial wet paper bag, yet has devoted her career to understanding how other people manage… and it occurs to me that there are worse ways to spend a life than working out a better answer for “Why?” than “Because.”

]]> By: Ed Yong http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2011/12/08/acquiring-the-knowledge-changes-the-brains-of-london-cab-drivers/#comment-13745 Ed Yong Fri, 09 Dec 2011 10:54:50 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/?p=5963#comment-13745 @Hershel - Yes. From the post: "The Knowledge comes at a cost – taxi drivers find it more difficult to integrate new routes into their existing maps, and other aspects of their memory seemed to suffer." @Hershel – Yes. From the post: “The Knowledge comes at a cost – taxi drivers find it more difficult to integrate new routes into their existing maps, and other aspects of their memory seemed to suffer.”

]]> By: Hershel Layton http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2011/12/08/acquiring-the-knowledge-changes-the-brains-of-london-cab-drivers/#comment-13744 Hershel Layton Fri, 09 Dec 2011 09:50:09 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/?p=5963#comment-13744 I wonder whether the changes to the brain may have negative effects. This isn't my field of expertise, of course. I wonder whether the changes to the brain may have negative effects. This isn’t my field of expertise, of course.

]]> By: Ed Yong http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2011/12/08/acquiring-the-knowledge-changes-the-brains-of-london-cab-drivers/#comment-13743 Ed Yong Thu, 08 Dec 2011 21:25:44 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/?p=5963#comment-13743 Cheers Noah. That's very useful to know. Cheers Noah. That’s very useful to know.

]]> By: Noah Gray http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2011/12/08/acquiring-the-knowledge-changes-the-brains-of-london-cab-drivers/#comment-13742 Noah Gray Thu, 08 Dec 2011 20:34:03 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/?p=5963#comment-13742 On a side note, I think we're reaching the point when we can say that there may be only ONE area in adult human brain that continues to generate new neurons. Building research by several labs reached somewhat of a peak a month or so ago with this paper: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v478/n7369/full/nature10487.html It seems SVZ is not a source for new neurons in adult humans, like it is in rodents and, to a lesser degree, non-human primates. That leaves us with only the dentate gyrus as a possibility! On a side note, I think we’re reaching the point when we can say that there may be only ONE area in adult human brain that continues to generate new neurons. Building research by several labs reached somewhat of a peak a month or so ago with this paper: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v478/n7369/full/nature10487.html

It seems SVZ is not a source for new neurons in adult humans, like it is in rodents and, to a lesser degree, non-human primates. That leaves us with only the dentate gyrus as a possibility!

]]>