Navigation expertise and the human hippocampus: a structural brain imaging analysis.

Full Abstract

Grey matter volume in the posterior hippocampus of London taxi drivers is greater than in age-matched controls, and the size of this increase correlates positively with time spent taxi driving (E.A. Maguire et al., 2000. Proc Natl Acad Sci

USA 97:
4398-4403). This change suggests that increased posterior hippocampal grey matter volume is acquired in response to increased taxi driving experience, perhaps reflecting their detailed representation of the city. However, an alternate hypothesis is that the difference in hippocampal volume is instead associated with innate navigational expertise, leading to an increased likelihood of becoming a taxi driver. To investigate this possibility, we used structural brain imaging and voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to examine a group of subjects who were not taxi drivers. Despite this group showing a wide range of navigational expertise, there was no association between expertise and posterior hippocampal grey matter volume (or, indeed, grey matter volume throughout the brain). This failure to find an association between hippocampal volume and navigational expertise thus suggests that structural differences in the human hippocampus reflect the detail and/or duration of use of the spatial representation acquired, and not innate navigational expertise per se.

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Author information

Author/s: Maguire, Eleanor A (EA); Spiers, Hugo J (HJ); Good, Catriona D (CD); Hartley, Tom (T); Frackowiak, Richard S J (RS); Burgess, Neil (N);

Affiliation: Wellcome Department of Imaging Neuroscience, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, United Kingdom. e.maguire(-atsign-)fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Clinical Trial; Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Hippocampus (Hippocampus), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2003-; vol 13 (issue 2) : pp 250-9

Dates: Created 2003/04/17; Completed 2003/05/21; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 12699332, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adolescent
Adult
Automobile Driving
Brain Mapping
Hippocampus - anatomy & histology; physiology
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Male
Memory - physiology
Mental Recall - physiology
Middle Aged
Orientation - physiology
Psychomotor Performance - physiology
Space Perception - physiology
Verbal Learning - physiology

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