strengths: lab experiments allow for rigorous controls, e.g. being blindfolded to ensure no visual interference, counterbalancing of order of tasks, landmarks they knew but had not visited etc.
lab experiments enable direct comparison of variables, e.g. sequential/non-sequential, topographical/non-topographical as these can be manipulated by the researcher
weaknesses: lab experiments may not represent real world situations, e.g. not often asked to describe a ‘freeze frame’ of a film whilst being brain-scanned
lab experiments often contain cues that act as demand characteristics, so participants may respond in ways which they expect the experimenter to want. This is unlikely to have happened in this case as the participants couldn’t affect their brain activation responses.

Maguire Paper 1 Questions