Watch the video and answer the questions below. Decide if the statements are True or False.
1. There are about 20,000 London taxis in circulation.
a. True
b. False
2. ‘The Knowledge’ is an extensive training course that a London taxi driver must do.
a. True
b. False
3. Once they’ve learnt all the routes, it is easier for the cabbies to learn new routes.
a. True
b. False
For transcript and answers see below.
Transcript and Answers:
Vying for attention with London's red buses, black cabs are one of the most famous symbols of the British capital.
With around 20 thousand in circulation, they're well-loved for their spacious and comfortable interiors
But what really sets them apart is their drivers.
Without the aid of a GPS, they know the city's labyrinthine street pattern better than anyone.
“A lot of the times you do it without thinking too much there's not a lot of stress involved. You just think, OK, I've got to head this way and away we go. And how can I get the people there, the passenger there as quick as possible. Your brain gets conditioned to work this way.”
Their impressive ability to orientate themselves in the city has spurred scientists to study London cab drivers' brains.
Research shows that working as a black cab driver develops a particular part of the brain known as the hippocampus.
“We'd seen how the hippocampus appeared to be linked to spatial memory, to learning, through the description of place cells.”
The foundation of all this brain activity is known as The Knowledge: the grueling training London's taxi drivers have to undergo before gaining their license.
Tests are carried out at schools like this one.
The atmosphere resembles a university library - the students, mostly men, undergo six hours of intense training per day.
The aim is to memorise the names and locations of 25 thousand streets, where London's 8 million plus population live and work.
“In London, the important roads are coloured yellow and orange. So the first thing they do really is learn all of these roads."
Aspiring cabbies take an average of three years to complete their training.
Almost thirty percent drop out.
“I've improved obviously with my knowledge with my way around London but I don't know about, like, my memory. I sort of use memory techniques on the knowledge to try to learn things, but sometimes it will give me a right headache it can give you a headache when you over study and stuff like that.”
Those who do succeed can be proud at having an unusually developed spatial memory.
Nonetheless, according to scientific studies, once their training is over, it gets harder for these masters of memory to learn new routes.
Answers:
1. a
2. a
3. b
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Vying for attention with London's red buses, black cabs are one of the most famous symbols of the British capital.
With around 20 thousand in circulation, they're well-loved for their spacious and comfortable interiors
But what really sets them apart is their drivers.
Without the aid of a GPS, they know the city's labyrinthine street pattern better than anyone.
“A lot of the times you do it without thinking too much there's not a lot of stress involved. You just think, OK, I've got to head this way and away we go. And how can I get the people there, the passenger there as quick as possible. Your brain gets conditioned to work this way.”
Their impressive ability to orientate themselves in the city has spurred scientists to study London cab drivers' brains.
Research shows that working as a black cab driver develops a particular part of the brain known as the hippocampus.
“We'd seen how the hippocampus appeared to be linked to spatial memory, to learning, through the description of place cells.”
The foundation of all this brain activity is known as The Knowledge: the grueling training London's taxi drivers have to undergo before gaining their license.
Tests are carried out at schools like this one.
The atmosphere resembles a university library - the students, mostly men, undergo six hours of intense training per day.
The aim is to memorise the names and locations of 25 thousand streets, where London's 8 million plus population live and work.
“In London, the important roads are coloured yellow and orange. So the first thing they do really is learn all of these roads."
Aspiring cabbies take an average of three years to complete their training.
Almost thirty percent drop out.
“I've improved obviously with my knowledge with my way around London but I don't know about, like, my memory. I sort of use memory techniques on the knowledge to try to learn things, but sometimes it will give me a right headache it can give you a headache when you over study and stuff like that.”
Those who do succeed can be proud at having an unusually developed spatial memory.
Nonetheless, according to scientific studies, once their training is over, it gets harder for these masters of memory to learn new routes.
1. a
2. a
3. b
For information about eflex languages go to: http://www.eflexlanguages.com/
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eflexlanguages
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