I read the OP and was like, I wonder how many notes before someone mentions The Knowledge.
London cabbies who hold The Knowledge experience changes to their brains that are explained in every Neurobiology for Babies course. Itās a wickedly difficult skill: rather than the pizza delivery people in the OP, starting in one defined zone (pizza place) and radiating out from there, a cabbie starts a route in any position and has to navigate across a partially-medieval city with no grid pattern, deranged place names, and not many bridges across a very large river. It would be useless to refer to a paper map, so cabbies were required to have all the Knowledge memorized. This means that the paths and optimized routes would have to be at the top of oneās brain, ready for instant access. As a result, the cabbies develop materially different brain regions as they study and use the Knowledge. They have detectable, measurable changes in their hippocampi, with an increase in grey matter forming in those who pass the Knowledge test and use it.
When asked to navigate a route between two points, they describe the mental process as instantaneous and explosive visuals: it sounds as if the map generates itself behind their eyes. (One potential tradeoff, though, is the decrease in associated brain matter in areas associated with other forms of memory.) After retiring, the brains of London cabbies would appear to return to ānormalā - when not exercised, the brain region dedicated to holding the Knowledge seemingly rewires itself - which is exciting because it indicates that brains are still capable of rewiring and adaptation even in later life.
Thatās all very interesting for neuroscientists, which is why itās in all the textbooks and underpins a lot of our understanding of brain plasticity (adaptability) especially in old age. After all, itās only ever adults who go through this process: babies rarely do a PhD in becoming a human Google Maps.
Some science-fiction series, like Dune, have explored the idea of no-longer-human navigators. still, itās under-explored. Today, researchers are interested in seeing how London cabbie brains could help with Alzheimerās research, or other progressive brain conditions that deteriorate the hippocampus.
Cute concluding sentence, sci-comm joke, rhetorical question intended to provoke reflection but mistaken in the comments for an actual question.
theartofmadeline
kaledo-art
discoholicmusic
pixelskylines
janainaart
jacobvanloon
2087
