The Effect of Learning on Spatial Memory (DP IB Psychology): Revision Note

The effect of learning on spatial memory

• The human brain is hardwired to learn:

  • It is naturally curious, seeking meaning and problem-solving opportunities

  • It is primed to improve with practice, strengthening skills over time

  • It learns by forming neural connections, creating pathways that support new learning

  • It is highly adaptive, constantly reshaping in response to environmental factors.

• This adaptability is known as neuroplasticity.

Neuroplasticity

• Neuroplasticity refers to the brain’s ability to adapt to change from injury, illness, learning, or experience

• Structural plasticity refers to physical changes within the brain, such as increases in grey matter in regions engaged by repeated practice or experience

  • hese changes are gradual, developing in proportion to the extent of learning or the degree of damage.

    The build-up of grey matter reflects increased synaptic connections in active brain regions

• Plasticity means that the brain is not a static, concrete mass

  • It is a flexible organ that continually reorganises itself in response to environmental demands

Research which supports the effect of learning on spatial memory

Maguire et al. (2000)

Aim:

• To investigate neuroplasticity in London black cab taxi drivers as a result of experience in spatial navigation (a specific type of memory).

Participants:

• 16 healthy, right-handed male London black cab taxi drivers who had passed ‘The Knowledge’, a test of spatial navigation

• The sample was aged 32-62 years with a mean age of 44 years

• All participants 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

• These scans were then compared to preexisting scans of 50 healthy, right-handed males who were not taxi drivers (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

• The control group 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 effect of learning (years spent as a taxi driver) may increase grey matter in the posterior hippocampus and this region of the brain may in turn be localised to spatial navigation/memory skills

Evaluation of the effect of learning on spatial memory

Strengths

• The study used a highly controlled clinical method (MRI) of obtaining objective data which could then be easily compared and analysed

  • This means that the study's findings should be reliable

• Understanding neuroplasticity can help aid the recovery of people who have suffered brain damage

Limitations

• A correlation cannot show cause-and-effect so it is impossible to know whether the taxi drivers already had naturally high levels of hippocampal grey matter

• The results are only generalisable to male, right-handed London taxi drivers so the nature of neuroplasticity in women is not known

Link to concepts

Causality

• MRI techniques have a high degree of precision in measuring specific brain structures but sophisticated technology alone cannot provide a full and rounded explanation of the effect of learning on specific behaviours

• MRIs and similar technology can only identify correlations between brain and behaviour, and often these correlations are mediated by the environment and/or cognition

• Maguire's research may suffer from bidirectional ambiguity: was increased grey matter already present in the taxi drivers' brains or did it increase only due to time spent navigating the streets of London?

Measurement

• MRI scanning should be 100% accurate, precise and thus, reliable

• Research has shown, however, that some machines appear to are more precise than others

  • There may be a variety of potential errors in calibration or in response to external factors, such as the light level in the room, which may affect the measurement

• There is also the issue of operator error (humans can and do make mistakes)

  • The reliability of MRI scanning may depend on how well the researchers/operators handle the equipment and how knowledgeable they are in their understanding of the findings