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Because many talents are first identified and nurtured in childhood, it can be difficult to determine whether talent is innate, can be acquired through extensive practice or can only be acquired in the presence of the developing brain. We sought to address some of these issues by studying healthy adults who acquired expertise in adulthood. We focused on the domain of memory and used licensed London taxi drivers as a model system. Taxi drivers have to learn the layout of 25\u200a000 streets in London and the locations of thousands of places of interest, and pass stringent examinations in order to obtain an operating licence. Using neuropsychological assessment and structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging, we addressed a range of key questions: in the context of a fully developed brain and an average IQ, can people acquire expertise to an exceptional level; what are the neural signatures, both structural and functional, associated with the use of expertise; does expertise change the brain compared with unskilled control participants; does it confer any cognitive advantages, and similarly, does it come at a cost to other functions? By studying retired taxi drivers, we also consider what happens to their brains and behaviour when experts stop using their skill. Finally, we discuss how the expertise of taxi drivers might relate to the issue of talent and innate abilities. We suggest that exploring talent and expertise in this manner could have implications for education, rehabilitation of patients with cognitive impairments, understanding individual differences and possibly conditions such as autism where exceptional abilities can be a feature.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1098\/rstb.2008.0288","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2009,4,13]],"date-time":"2009-04-13T02:02:47Z","timestamp":1239588167000},"page":"1407-1416","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1098\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":69,"title":["Talent in the taxi: a model system for exploring expertise"],"prefix":"10.1098","volume":"364","author":[{"given":"Katherine","family":"Woollett","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London12 Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hugo J.","family":"Spiers","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, Cognitive, Perceptual and Brain Sciences Research Department, University College London26 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AP, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Eleanor A.","family":"Maguire","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London12 Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"175","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2009,5,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_2_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Andersen P. 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