> 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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genxy 12 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

People who would pass The Knowledge test might already develop dementia at a much lower rate.

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

The first study referenced is in the US, and across 443 occupations.

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

Indeed. Elsewhere in the world taxi drivers just follow the GPS.

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SoftTalker 2 hours ago | parent [-]

We had taxis long before GPS.

When I was in my early 20s I had a job delivering pizza. I very quickly learned the delivery area, I knew pretty much every street and alleyway and shortcut to get from one place to another. Much smaller than London but I think the human brain is very good at remembering routes and where things are in an area, as this would have been an evolutionary advantage (go out hunting and be able to find your way back). No GPS, didn't even carry a map with me. We had a large map on the wall at the store, and if I had to deliver to a street I didn't recognize I'd find it on the map, see where it was relative to the streets I did know, and then I never had any problem finding places.

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al_borland 6 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

I suspect GPS has made this much worse. I shining example was an Uber I got in Chicago, where GPS doesn't work well due to all the buildings. The guy drove around the same block 3 times, blindly following the GPS. It was infuriating.

	▲	SoftTalker a minute ago \| parent [-]
		And Chicago is one of the easier cities to navigate, as it's almost entirely a grid.

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

My 2019 car had the cardinal directions in the mirror (N, NE, E, ES, S etc). My 2025 does not anymore. I hate it. I think it helps to get that baseline of orientation, and then you look at the street numbers, and it all starts to come together.

	▲	clickety_clack an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Pretty much my only issue with CarPlay is that I can’t seem to set the map so that north is up. It turns everything into “third right ahead” instead of “this is just 2 blocks east of that coffee shop I was at last week”.

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pryelluw 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Same. First thing they had me buy was a map book with all the local neighborhoods. The map on the wall helped get shortcuts from others. This is where I learned the difference between the different kinds of shortcuts. Some saved time, others distance, and some even potholes. It was a fun time.

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2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

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