The ones that do stopped being taxi drivers.

cobertos 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

True, though the article does also mention another study not based on taxi drivers, but just living in high spatial complexity ZIP codes puts you at a lower risk.

> Research on cognitive maps points toward the same conclusion as the study on taxi drivers. In 2023, researchers ran a machine learning model on more than 22,500 people in a national dataset and were able to predict which ZIP codes had higher rates of Alzheimer’s with 84% accuracy based on how complex the environment was. Those living in spatially complex surroundings – the kind that force active map building, such as dense street networks with numerous intersections, diverse points of interest and landmarks, and multiple path options – were less likely to develop Alzheimer’s.

	▲	david-gpu 9 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		A dense street network wiry complex intersections also means living in walkable urban cores vs car-centric suburbs.
	▲	smolder an hour ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		I know an 80 year old who was a commercial truck driver for decades and still has a strong mental map for a pretty vast area. Anecdata, but I find it interesting.
	▲	Palomides an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		or there's a million confounding factors around people living in dense cities versus rural areas

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mattlondon 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I guessed the probably died in a car accident or of something related to pollution exposure or being sedentary their entire adult lives.

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cjbgkagh 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I would assume that the task of being a taxi driver would act as a near constant test for Alzheimer’s, would be interesting to do GWAS studies on older taxi drivers and compare against taxi drivers who quit earlier in their careers.

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don_esteban 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Yeah, that was the first thing that comes to mind.

And the second thing: What about modern taxi drivers that rely almost exclusively on GPS?