Re: [xmca] The Strange Situation

The influence of culture on funcational and structural aspects of the brain
is reviewed
some in my article for Handbook of Child dev at lchc.ucsd.edu and in my
ISCAR talk
which I will try to post when I return to San diego.

More than a curiousity, for sure.
mike

On Sun, Sep 14, 2008 at 7:23 PM, Martin Packer <packer@duq.edu> wrote:

> Nice illustration here of the interface of biology and culture:
>
> *Scientists have uncovered evidence for an inbuilt "sat-nav" system in the
> brains of London taxi drivers.*
>
> They used magnetic scanners to explore the brain activity of taxi drivers
> as
> they navigated their way through a virtual simulation of London's streets.
>
> Different brain regions were activated as they considered route options,
> spotted familiar landmarks or thought about their customers.
>
> The research was presented at this week's BA Science Festival.
>
> Earlier studies had shown that taxi drivers have a larger hippocampus - a
> region of the brain that plays an important role in navigation.
>
> Their brains even "grow on the job" as they build up detailed information
> needed to find their way around London's labyrinth of streets - information
> famously referred to as "The Knowledge".
> "We were keen to go beyond brain structure - and see what activity is going
> on inside the brains of taxi drivers while they are doing their job," said
> Dr Hugo Spiers from University College London.
>
> <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7613621.stm>
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Received on Thu Sep 18 06:30 PDT 2008