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Neuroplasticity is the brain's ability to change throughout the course of life. This change occurs through the making and breaking of synaptic connections between neurons. The reasons for such changes are both genetic (normal pre-programmed development of the brain) and environmental (for example, injury, brain damage or simply learning new skills).

Case Study: Maguire et al (2000)

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Neuroplasticity refers to the brain's ability to change and adapt over a period of time through the making and breaking of synaptic connections on an individual level or cortical remapping on a larger scale, establishing new neural pathways in the brain. This phenomenon can occur in one of three ways - a chemical change, structural change, or functional change in the brain as a result of genetics or new experiences/injuries
Case study - Maguire et al (London Taxi Driver)

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NeuroPlasticity also known as neural plasticity is the ability of neural networks in the brain to change through growth and reorganization. These changes range from individual neuron pathways making new connections to systematic adjustments like cortical remapping.
Maguire et al
(London Taxi Driver)

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Neuroplasticity is the brain's ability to change and adapt by forming new connections as a result of experience, learning, or an injury. When we learn something, neurons connect to form new circuits. This is called dendritic branching because the dendrites of the neuron grow and connect with other neurons. Numerous studies have shown that stimulating environments impact the neural connections and synapses which can be seen in the study of Maguire et al in 2002.

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Neuroplasticity refers to the ability of the brain to adapt to change. It refers to changes in neural pathways and synapses that are due to changes in behaviour, neural processes or resulting for environmental causes (injury, learning a new skill, brain damage etc) These changes result in the breaking of synaptic connections between neurons.

Case study - Rosenzweig and Bennet (1972)

Maguire et al.

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Neural networking is the brains ability to make positive and negative changes to the neural pathways and connections by either rearranging, pruning off old connections, or establishing new neural  pathways for the brain to learn and adapt over time. This phenomenon can occur either chemically over a short period of time, physically through neural changes or new pathways over a longer period of time, as well as through constant functioning of a part of the brain. An example of neural networking is shown in the Maguire et al (2000) study aka as the london taxi driver study.

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Neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain to positively or negatively change through the making and braking of synaptic connections between neurons; causing factors are both genetic and environmental. The change of neural networks through repetition and neural pruning that is both genetic and subject to environmental influences (injury or learning a new skill). These changes can be observed from individual neuron pathways developing new synaptic connections, to systematic adaptation. This phenomenon can be based on either a chemical change, structural change or functional change.

Case study: Maguire et el (London taxi driver- 2000)

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- Although Maguire's study supported the theory of  neuroplasticity, it was a correlational study which meant that direct cause and effect inferences could not be drawn. The study suggested a strong relationship between the two but it cannot be concluded with certainty that driving the cab and the exam caused the drivers to have a larger hippocampus and more grey matter. There could be many other factors that caused them to have a larger hippocampus (other experiences, genetic variables, new learnings). The non controlled nature of the experiment makes it impossible to attribute the cab driving as the only cause of the plasticity

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Maguire's study supported neuroplasticity, however, a cause-and-effect relationship cannot be established in the case study as it was a quasi-experiment, and the independent variable (the brain of taxi drivers) was not manipulated but was naturally occurring. The results are correlational but it cannot be concluded with certainty that driving a taxi causes a change in the hippocampus.

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Right posterior hippocampal volume positively correlated with the amount of time spent as a taxi driver and therefore suggests that changes in hippocampal volume are acquired.​

As such, the finding indicates the possibility of local plasticity in the structure of the healthy adult human brain, as a function of increased exposure to an environmental stimulus. The results suggest that a mental map of London is stored in the posterior hippocampus and is accommodated by an increase in tissue volume.​

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London taxi driver focused on long term brain plasticity

participants had to have ‘exponential training’ and have experience of driving for at least 1.5 years

Found positive correlation between the hippocampus volume (right posterior hippocampus) and the amount of time spent as a taxi driver

However the video explained

Neuroplasticity varies from individual to individual

Variability: our brain's ability to become neuroplastic varies between individuals and may occur is SHORT periods of time

Individual variability was not discussed in London taxi driver

Each individual may will different skills relatively easier/harder

Your brain is constantly being shaped by the world around you: genetics, experiences etc

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Maguire et al. was a quasi experiment hence, a cause and effect relationship could not be deduced. But, It can be culminated that a fully developed human brain is prone to change to the environmental causes. The results of the experiment showed that excessive use of navigational skills can lead to an increase of grey matter in the posterior hippocampus region compared to the non taxi drivers’ MRI. This means that the brain adjusts to accommodate demand.

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- There was a low number of participants (due to the expensive and time consuming nature of MRI testing) which may affect the generalisability of the study
- Extremely low participant variability which further lowers the generalisability of the study; the findings cannot be applied to other professions, genders, ages, nationalities

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This study is reliable as it is validated by the fact that when the data was put through a correlational check the ammount of time spent as a taxi driver was strongly correlated to the size of the tissue which grew. The study is also replicable and none of the ethical boundaries were breached. However, the number of trained taxi drivers were not proportionate to the number of non taxi drivers as there were only 16 taxi drivers rather than there being 50. The study was only conducted only for right handed males and not for left handed people or females in general. The probable reason for larger tissues can is the constant spacial function in the hippocampus region but it may also be genetic in nature.

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Strengths- The experiment shows how spatial memory could be linked to our hippocampus and the role of localisation

MRI scans were also used. They do not cause harm to the patient and are accurate

The experiment could be replicated

Weaknesses- The experiment was not very generalisable as only right - handed males were used.

It is only a correlational study so a cause and effect relationship cannot be deduced/ evaluated

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What the video concluded or outlined:

Neuroplasticity can have both positive and negative changes

Learning a new skill can vary for one individual in can be very easy to learn a new skill compared to another

Individual variability (not identified in London Taxi driver)

Neuroplasticity cannot be generalised, it depends from person to person

Potential causing factors of neuroplasticity revolves around experiences and genetics.