[科学美国人60秒] SSS 2015-11-06（在线收听）

From the back seat of a cab, the moves a driver makes may at time seem, let us say, daring. In fact, cabbys may actually be better, more edge out drivers than the rest of us, because they know their streets so well. Previous research found that the hippocampus in the brain of a typical cab driver is enlarged. That's the part of the brain used in navigation. But now a study confirms that learning detailed navigation information does not indeed cause that part of the brain to grow. The findings are in the journal Neruo Image. Researchers had young adults who are not regular gamers play a driving simulation game. Some practice this manuvuring the same route 20 times, while other players were confronted with 20 different routes. The participants' brains were scanned before they perform the simulate driving and again after. Researchers found that subjects who can repeat the same route increased their speed more than those driving multiple routes. The single route drivers were also much better able to put in order a sequence of random pictures taken along the way, and to draw a map of the route. The investigators also find increases in the single route drivers in the fuctional kind of activity between the hippocampus and other parts of the brain involved with navigation and the amount of change was then radically related to the amount of improvement each participant displayed. These findings may explain why your uber driver can eventually get you from point A to point B, but may lack of seemingly effortless mental flexibility that a yellow cabby displays on the streets. Veterans have been there, done that, and their brains show it.