• The study aimed to see whether or not learning a new skill - juggling would affect the brains of participants
• There were 24 volunteers for this study - 21 female, and 3 male
• None of the participants had known how to juggle before the study
• Each participant underwent an MRI scan before the study
• Participants were allocated to one of TWO conditions - Juggling, and Non Juggling
• Those in the juggling condition were taught a 3 ball juggling skill - And they were asked to practice this routine until they mastered it, and notify the researchers when they did.
• After the jugglers did their second scan after coming back from mastering the skill , they were told to COMPLETELY STOP juggling
• Three months after their second scan, they had a THIRD MRI SCAN
• The researchers used a technique known as voxel-based-morphometry, or VBM to determine if there were any changes in NEURAL DENSITY in the brains of jugglers vs non jugglers
• Neural density would mean that dendritic branching took place, resulting in neuroplasticity
• The brain scans before they were allotted the juggler vs non juggler conditions did not have much difference
• The results showed that after they mastered the skill and came for their second scan, the juggling group had a far higher level of grey matter, meaning that DENDRITIC BRANCHING AND NEUROPLASTICITY TOOK PLACE
• After they stopped juggling, the scans showed decreased gray matter, which hints at SYNAPTIC PRUNING
• They used a PRE-AND POST TEST DESIGN TO SHOW DIFFERENCES IN NEURAL DENSITY OVER TIME
• The study was experimental and somewhat controlled
• Control group existed, increasing the internal validity of the study
• The sample size was small and didn’t have much variety, decreasing ecological and cultural validity
• FIELD EXPERIMENT - IV WAS MANIPULATED UNDER NATURAL CONDITIONS
• Internal validity is at risk due to the fact that it was a field experiment, because the participants were home, so we don’t know what kind of maturation could’ve taken place