Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) MRI scans can produce a highly detailed image of the brain, showing “slices” of the brain from different angles. The yellow dots highlight the brain region that was significantly larger in experienced London taxi drivers, known for their encyclopedic memory of London streets, as compared to control subjects (Maguire & others, 2000, 2006). This region, called the hippocampus, is known to be involved in forming new memories. This landmark study provided solid evidence for the once-revolutionary idea that structures in the adult brain change in response to experience and learning.

Hippocampus, Vol. 16, 2006, p. 1097. Reprinted with permission of Wiley-Liss, Inc., a subsidiary of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.