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SAQ sample: Neuroplasticity

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  • SAQ sample: Neuroplasticity

The following sample is for the question: Explain neuroplasticity with reference to one study.  

The sample below is an exemplary response.

An annotated copy of the sample response can be found at the bottom of the page.

What is this question asking?

  • The focus of the question is on the explanation of neuroplasticity. There should be a clear understanding of neuroplasticity demonstrated.
  • A relevant study should be described in terms of the aim, procedure and findings.
  • There should be an explicit explanation of what the study teaches us about the role of neuroplasticity in understanding the brain and behaviour.

Sample response

Neuroplasticity is the brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections. Neuroplasticity allows neurons in the brain to compensate for injury or to respond to changes in the environment. When neurons fire continually as a result of stimulation in the environment, the neurons sprout new dendrites – known as dendritic branching.  This increases the number of synapses available for the behaviour. Dendritic branching as a result of stimulation in the environment is seen in a study by Maguire.

Maguire carried out a study to see if neuroplasticity would be seen in the brain of London taxi drivers due to the amount of time that they had been driving the streets of London. The hypothesis was that since they were required to pass a test called “the knowledge” which required them to memorize the location of key places and routes in the city and they spent a lot of time driving around the streets of London, repeated use of the brain for spatial memory would result in neuroplasticity and a denser hippocampus.

Maguire used 16 healthy right-handed males who were licensed taxi drivers. She compared the taxi drivers to 50 healthy right-handed males who were not taxi drivers. An MRI was used to detect changes in the structure of the brain as a result of their experience. The results showed that the taxi drivers had larger posterior hippocampi compared to the controls and that the controls had larger anterior hippocampi compared to the taxi drivers. Also, there was a positive correlation between the number of years the participants had been taxi drivers and the size of the posterior hippocampus, but a negative correlation with the size of the anterior hippocampus.

Maguire argued that this demonstrates the plasticity of the hippocampus in response to environmental demands. She argued that the posterior hippocampus stores a spatial representation of the environment and that in the London taxi drivers the volume of the posterior hippocampus expanded because of their high reliance on navigation skills and spatial memories.

333 words

What are common problems with this response?

  • There is only a limited explanation of neuroplasticity.
  • The study is not focused on neuroplasticity, but on the localization of function.
  • The study is not clearly described in terms of the aim, procedure and findings.
  • There is no clear explanation of what the study teaches us about the role of neuroplasticity in psychological understanding of the brain and behaviour.

Annotated student copy