This is scientific Americans 60 second science. I'm Erica Barris. Got a minute?

From the backseat of a cab the moves a driver makes may at time seem, let's say daring. In fact, cabbies may actually be better, more agile drivers than the rest of us, because they know their streets so well.

Previous research found that the hippocampus in the brain of a typical cap driver is enlarged.

That's the part of the brain used in navigation.

But now a study confirms that learning detailed navigation

information does indeed cause that part of the brain to grow. The findings

are in the journal Neuroimage. Researchers had young adults who were not regular

gamers play a driving simulation game. Some practice maneuvering the same route

20 times while other players were confronted with 20 different routes.

The participants' brains were scanned before they performed the simulated driving and again after.

Researchers found that subjects who kept repeating the same route increased their speed more than those driving multiple routes.

The single route drivers were also much better able to put in order a sequence of random pictures taken along the way and to draw a map of the route.

The investigators also found increases in the single route drivers in the functional

connectivity between the hippocampus and other parts of the brain involved with navigation and the amount of change was directly related to the amount of improvement each participant displayed.

These findings may explain why your Uber driver can eventually get you from point A to point B, but may lack the seemingly effortless mental flexibility that a yellow cabbi displays on the streets.

Veterans have been there, done that, and their brains show it.

Thanks for the minute. For Scientific Americans 60 Second Science, I'm Erica Barris.