alt Hacker News> In one landmark 2000 study, neuroscientists compared the brains of licensed London taxi drivers with those of people who did not drive cabs.
Location is very important here. London cabbies have to pass The Knowledge which is an extremely difficult memory exam that only people with particular kind of brain can do.
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People who would pass The Knowledge test might already develop dementia at a much lower rate.
The first study referenced is in the US, and across 443 occupations.
> that only people with particular kind of brain can do.
That's yours speculation, isn't it?Because if so, it would corroborate the same conclusion, i.e. if you exercise your memory regularly, you are less likely to develop Alzheimer's.
Indeed. Elsewhere in the world taxi drivers just follow the GPS.
There is (or at least - was) a similar test for Paris taxi drivers. They needed among others to explain turn by turn the drive between two places indicated by the examiner.
Today this knowledge is arguably less useful.
They have to memorize 25,000 streets. The test is no joke. [0]
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur61kzXjvN8