They are happy to give their opinion on anything from celebrity gossip to world affairs as they navigate the capital’s streets.
And one cabbie, Fred Housego, won Mastermind in 1980.
Now it seems that London taxi drivers’ brains actually expand to contain all their knowledge.
Researchers from University College London tracked 79 trainee taxi drivers as they studied for the Knowledge, the test for the black cab licence which involves memorising more than 25,000 streets and thousands of landmarks. It typically takes three or four years.
In the study, published in the journal Current Biology, 39 qualified as cabbies, and in these men, the brain area called the posterior hippocampus which is key to memory grew over time. However, the brains of men who did not pass the Knowledge showed no change.
Professor Eleanor Maguire, who is funded by the Wellcome Trust, said her findings are important because they show that that intensive periods of learning can trigger changes in the brain, even in adulthood.
This could offer hope to those who want to learn new skills and gives fresh insight into rehabilitation after stroke damage. - Daily Mail