Aging & Expertise Flashcards
Aging and expertise: The good news
Comparisons of young and older professionals in a
variety of domains suggest that age and professional expertise are uncorrelated
But related studies face a sample selection problem:
selective attrition, promotion to less challenging positions, selective survival
Important concept
Transfer
If we train something, how specific is the gain?
* Music training
* Physical exercise
Near vs. far transfe
Four accounts of expertise in later adulthood
- Preserved differentiation
- Expertise-driven general abilities account
- Differential preservation
- Compensation
Preserved differentiation ( a priori differences)
A priori differences
Superior domain-specific abilities existed prior to skill acquisition
Expertise-driven general abilities account (far taransfer)
Far transfer
Experts at any age also excel in domain-general mechanisms
Differential preservation (selective maintinace)
Selective maintenance
Same domain-specific mechanisms in older and younger
experts
Role of maintenance practice
Very limited transfer
Compensation
Different domain-specific mechanisms in older and younger
experts
Aging and chess expertise
Methods
* Move selection task
* Think aloud protocols
Results
* Older experts search slower and less deep, but they
select moves of equal quality as young players do
One interpretation: Older experts compensate for their
age-related decline in speed through refined move
selection strategies
Deliberate practice activities and chess skill
nice linear graph with number of chess bokes owned
Study with amateur- and concert-pianists
Experts are typical (for age) in terms of mental speed
Decoupling of mental speed and expertise → expretise benifits
depend on mianteneace practice
The older expert’s brain
Tasks
* Domain-specific: rhythmic timing
* Domain-general: processing speed, WM, inhibition (go-no go)
In easyt ryhtm almost no activation experts
and less activation for for complex rythm compared to novices
Conclusions: Aging and Expertise
Experts are normal people with respect to age-related
changes in domain-general functions
Specific skills are decoupled from general abilities in
expertise-contexts
Experts acquire and maintain their skills through deliberate
practice
