Class 11: Brain training, transfer, limits of expertise, deliberate practice, mental representations, and chunking Flashcards
In some fields, if you follow specific training methods with diligence, you can become an expert. What are the 4 characteristics that these fields have in common?
- There are always objective or semi-objective ways to win 2. These fields are competitive enough to create incentive for practice and improvement 3. These fields are generally well established 4. There are a subset of individuals who serve as teachers and coaches who develop sophisticated training techniques
According to “Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise,” does deliberate practice: a) Depend solely on natural ability and genetics b) Involve only physical repetition of skills c) Both produce and depend on mental representations d) Require a fixed amount of time for each practice session
Answer: c) Both produce and depend on mental representations
Why did chess expert Patrick Wolff have difficulty recalling some configurations of chess pieces but not others?
His expertise is focused on patterns, so he remembers pieces in the context of an ongoing game. When the pieces are randomised, there is no pattern, and his expertise does not transfer to the task.
Q: What is deliberate practice? A) Mindlessly repeating a task B) Performing a task without any guidance C) Practicing with the goal of improving specific skills D) Practicing for a certain amount of time each day
A: C) Practicing with the goal of improving specific skills.
The ability to identify patterns in a collection of things that might appear random or confused to someone with less developed mental representations is a characteristic of experts performance in almost every field.Is this true or false?
TRUE
According to Chapter 4 of “Peak,” what are the three key characteristics that define the “Gold Standard” of expert performance?
The three key characteristics that define the “Gold Standard” of expert performance, as described in Chapter 4 of “Peak,” are deliberate practice, feedback, and the ability to perform under pressure.
According to “Peak: Secrets from the new science of expertise,” innate talent is the most important factor in achieving expertise.
FALSE
what is a mental representation?
a mental structure that correctly corresponds to an object, idea, or concept.
When shown chessboards with the chess pieces arranged randomly, how did the mid-range player and chess master do in remembering the positions of the pieces in regard to the novice chess player?
The same. They were only able to get two or three pieces right.
Fill in the Blanks: The ACTIVE trial demonstrates clearly the concept of _________ improvement, also referred to as _______ transfer.
Training specific, narrow.
mental representation
a mental structure that corresponds to an object, idea, collection of information, or anything else concrete or abstract that the brain is thinking about.
What is the name of the single largest brain-training intervention that Dan Simons mentioned?
The ACTIVE trial (involved about 3,000 older adults). The main result showed that brain training may improve training-specific tasks. E.g., if you trained on a reaction time task, you’ll likely improve on that reaction time task or something very similar (a.k.a., narrow transfer).
What is a mental representation?
A mental structure that corresponds to an object, idea, collection of information, or anything else concrete or abstract, that the brain is thinking about.
Fill in the blank. During class, a peer mentions burgers, and immediately you see an image of a burger in your mind. The image that appears is your ____ ____ of a burger.
Mental representation.
How is a book mentally represented when writing?
write well, develop a mental representation ahead of time to guide you, then monitor and evaluate being ready to modify if necessary.
True/False Both formal discipline theory and transfer by identical elements are based on modern research on transfer of training.
FALSE
Ericsson and Pool argue that expert performers develop mental representations that allow them to efficiently process and retrieve information relevant to their domain. These mental representations are often referred to as __________.
chunks.
True or False: There is substantial publication bias in the Brain Training literature
True: The authors of the systematic review of brain training programs highlighted the publication bias present in the literature.
True or False. One advantage of the brain training program is that it improves abilities to transfer skills into broader contexts.
False. Evidence demonstrated that brain training programs only affect narrow transfer and learning processes in specific tasks.
Q: According to Ericsson and Pool, what is the difference between deliberate practice and regular practice? A) Deliberate practice is only for experts B) Deliberate practice involves feedback and specific goals C) Regular practice is more enjoyable D) Regular practice requires less time and effort
A: B) Deliberate practice involves feedback and specific goals, while regular practice may lack those components.
What is the term used to describe the process by which experts in a given domain become so proficient that their performance becomes “automatic”? A) Mental modeling B) Skill acquisition C) Deliberate practice D) Proceduralization
D) Proceduralization
True or false: When shown random chess patterns for 5 seconds, professional chess players can almost perfectly re-create them.
False. Chess players outperform lay people only when there is “chess relevant meaning” in the patterns they were shown.
True or False. Brain games (such as Lumosity, CogMed, etc.) significantly improve broad cognitive abilities and aid general daily activities.
False.
does a mental representation have to be accurate?
no, mental representations can be inaccurate, and can vary in detail. however, accuracy may impact the quality of results when completing a task.
true or false: using standard psychological techniques, the researchers examined what was going on in the brains of climbers when they surveyed the various holds.
TRUE
Define the item ‘Placebo Effect’.
Placebo Effect: Refers to the phenomenon where a person experiences a perceived improvement in a condition or symptom due to receiving a treatment that has no therapeutic effect, but believes it to be effective.
According to Ericsson and Pool’s “Peak,” what is the primary focus of mental representations? A) Organization of skills and knowledge B) Development of physical abilities C) Understanding of emotional states D) Acquisition of linguistic fluency
A) Organization of skills and knowledge
True/False: The ability to recognize and remember meaningful patterns arises from the way chess players develop their abilities
TRUE
True or False: Brain training programs have been scientifically proven to improve cognitive functions such as memory and attention.
False. While brain training programs claim to improve cognitive functions, the scientific evidence supporting these claims is limited and often not strong.
What is the simplest example of how short-term memory comes into play in our lives?
Memorizing lists of things.
What are mental representations?
Cognitive structures that experts use to organise and store information about their domain. Mental representations can be developed and refined through deliberate practice, leading to increased expertise.
Why is deliberate practice more effective than other forms of practice?
Deliberate practice is more effective because it is goal-oriented and specifically targets areas for improvement. It involves breaking down complex skills into smaller, manageable components, allowing individuals to focus on specific aspects of their performance. This approach, coupled with immediate feedback and repetition, facilitates continuous refinement of mental representations and promotes the development of expertise.
What is a mental representation
A mental structure that corresponds to a idea, object or collection of information
Chess masters visualise the physical chess pieces on a board when asked about what they see when they are mentally examining a chess position.
FALSE
What is an alternative explanation for some of the evidence showing that people improved with brain training tasks?
practice effects- if you practice something, you’re likely to get better at it.
According to Ericsson and Pool what is blindfolded chess a great example of?
Purposeful practise.
What is “knowledge transforming” as referred to by Ericsson and Pool?
It is the process of a writer’s knowledge evolving and getting changed by the process of writing
fiil in the blank: experienced climbers had developed mental representations of holds that allowed them to know without _____, what sort of grip was required for each hold they saw
conscious thought
Define Mental Representations
A mental structure that corresponds to an object, an idea, a collection of information or anything else that the brain is thinking about.
Chapter 4 of “Peak: Secrets from the new science of expertise” explores the concept of deliberate practice and how it can lead to the development of expertise. What are some of the key elements of deliberate practice, and how can individuals apply these principles to improve their own skills and knowledge?
Deliberate practice involves intentionally practicing a skill or domain with a focus on specific goals, feedback, and repetition. Key elements of deliberate practice include breaking down complex tasks into smaller, manageable parts, seeking out feedback from experts, identifying weaknesses and areas for improvement, and dedicating a significant amount of time and effort to practice. Individuals can apply these principles to improve their own skills and knowledge by setting clear goals, seeking out constructive feedback, and creating a practice routine that focuses on specific areas for improvement.
active control groups are used for
controlling against placebo effects
True or False Grand Master Patrick Wolff was able to memorise the pieces on a chess board better than a novice player when the pieces were set up like someone had played the game and when the pieces were set up randomly on the board.
FALSE- Grand Master Patrick Wolff performed immensely better than novice players when the pieces were set up like someone had been playing however, when the pieces were set up randomly he did not perform any better than the novice.
To determine true or false: provide a few seemingly random words (was smelling the one in front of him for peanuts, he was so hungry, there were hardly any women so he could contain) and ask people to repeat them. The first method of repetition is to rearrange the words into meaningful sentences, e.g. “The woman in front of him was eating peanuts and smelled so good that he could barely control his hunger.” The second method of repetition is to ask the person to recall the words word by word. Those who used the first method remembered about the same number of words as those who used the second method.
False. People who use the first method are able to remember more words because when words are arranged to have meaning, people are able to use pre-existing ‘mental representations’ to understand them, and thus will remember them better
According to Simons, what effects DID the systematic review of brain training studies discover?
Effects of practice, learning, and narrow transfer of training to very similar tasks.
Which of the following is NOT a common short-coming of RCTs? a) Missing critical tests b) Inadequate control groups C) Selective reporting of outcomes D) Representative samples
d) is incorrect, non-representative samples are a shortcoming
What are mental representations?
Mental models used by experts to process and organise information.
True or false: There is substantial evidence and hardly any contradiction in the literature about the effectiveness of brain trainings.
False. Unfortunately, there are multiple contradictions and unethical research practices evident in brain training literature.
What is the concept of transfer in relation to brain training?
The concept of transfer refers to the idea that improvements in one cognitive function as a result of brain training will transfer to other cognitive functions.
According to Ericsson & Pool (2016), what differentiates the best musicians from the mediocre ones?
The quality of the mental representations they create.
What are some of shortcomings of Random Control Trials in brain-training research?
- Small or non-representative samples 2. Inadequate control groups 3. Selective Reporting of Outcomes 4. Missing Critical Tests 5. Opaque Publishing Practices
TRUE OR FALSE: When recalling randomly generated positions of chess pieces, the expert performed better than novices
FALSE - the expert only performed better when positions were not randomly generated and are used in chess
True or False: Individuals may need to develop new mental representations when they are entering new domains or trying to learn new skills, rather than to rely solely on their existing mental representations.
True. This is because mental representation is very “domain specific” as it applies only to the skill for which they were developed.
True or False. Chess experts consistently do better than novice’s at recalling positions on a chess board both when randomly generated.
False - when the positions are randomly generated experts do no better than novices at recalling the position of chess pieces on a board
What fundamental concept do brain training games rely on?
Generalisation. The claim that a skill or capacity refined in one specific domain will also apply or affect performance in another domain.
What are the key findings of the 1973 classic study of expert chess memory by William Chase and Herbert Simon?
An expert player remembered almost all of the pieces correctly. An amateur and a novice recalled far fewer pieces and made more mistakes. But when the regular chess positions were replaced by randomly generated positions, the expert was no better than the novice.
Mental representations are internal models of external reality. True/False?
True. Mental representations are internal models of external reality.
In Malcolm Gladwell’s 2008 study, he claimed that someone can become profficient in any endeavour after practising it for approximately ten thousand hours. Why is this a problematic claim?
It is problematic for three key reasons. Firstly, there is nothing special about the ‘10,000 hours rule’ Malcolm Gladwell produced. This number is not the requirement, as the amount of hours required to become proficient in a task varies from person to person, and field to field. Secondly, Gladwell misinterpreted the number of voilinists in his study that had reached the 10,000 hours point. He falsely believed they all had by age 20, when in reality only about half of them had. Lastly, in his study he didn’t distinguish between ‘deliberate practise’ and any sort of activity that could be labeled ‘practise.’
In Chapter 3 of “Peak,” Ericsson and Pool suggest that individuals with more extensive and elaborate mental representations are able to: A) Remember information more efficiently B) Develop higher levels of creativity C) Solve problems more effectively D) Communicate more persuasively
C) Solve problems more effectively
A ______ ______________ is a mental structure that corresponds to an object, an idea, a collection of information or anything else concrete or abstract, that the brain is thinking about
mental representation
What are mental representations on how do they influence reasoning?
A mental representation is a mental structure that corresponds to an object, an idea or a collection of information that or anything else, concrete or abstract that the brain conjures up. Mental representations permit reasoning about unfamiliar situations drawing on the vast knowledge base developed over many years. When highly experienced individuals lack these relevant mental representations and associated knowledge are confronted with unfamiliar situations, they might perform poorly on tasks they otherwise would be good at.
In the 1973 experiment featuring Patrick Wolff, what was Patricks explanation for how he was trying to remember the 5 second images?
He was trying to make logical connections and to make those connections “make sense”
What was founf to be the difference between the abilities of the violin students.
The amount of time spent training in solitary was significantly different between the top groups. With more timeing being spent more indictave of better skills.
deliberate practice involves developing _____ mental representations
more efficient
True/False The controversy in the debate about brain training is whether and when practicing one task will improve performance on untrained tasks.
TRUE
Name any three of the characteristics of Deliberate Practice
Answers could include: 1.Takes place outside of one’s comfort zone 2. Has well-defined, specific goals 3. Requires the person’s full attention and conscious action 4. Involves feedback and modifications of effort based on feedback 5. Produces and depends on mental representations 6. Building on or modifying pre-existing skills 9. Pre-existing effective training techniques
What does the coined word “chunks” mean?
It was a word given by Bill Chase and Herb Simon to describe a chess player memorizing patterns (i.e. interactions among pieces) for storage in long-term memory.
What makes deliberate practice different from other sorts of purposeful practice?
- It requires a field that is already reasonably well developed such that there is a level of competition and show a superior level of performance 2. It requires a teacher who can provide practice activities designed to help improve performance Thus, purposeful practice is purposeful and informed whereas deliberate practice is informed and guided by the best performers’ accomplishments and by an understanding of what these expert performers do to excel.
What is the “ten-thousand hour rule” and is it true?
It is the idea that it takes 10,000 hours to become a master in most fields. This is not necessarily true, as numbers vary from field to field, and doesn’t take into account many factors such as age, averaging techniques or type/quality of practice.
Why is it important do analyse past mistakes and weaknesses in a game of chess?
So that future games can avoid these pitfalls.
What is a mental representation?
Mental representations are, objects and structures in the mind with semantic properties. It allows individuals to perceive, process, understand, and recall stimuli.
What is the difference in deliberate and purposeful practice?
Deliberate practice is purposeful and informed, requiring a field that is well-developed and teachers who can provide practice activities.
Does purposeful or deliberate practice require a teacher to provide practice activities?
Deliberate practice
What is the potential downside of nudging according to Ritchie (2022)?
According to Ritchie (2022), the potential downside of nudging is that it can be used for manipulative purposes. Nudging can be used to influence people to make decisions that are not in their best interest or that they would not have made otherwise. Therefore, it is important to ensure that nudges are transparent and aligned with people’s values and preferences.
Y/N: A chessplayer’s memory is very context dependent?
Yes. It is only for the sort that would appear in a normal game.
How do Ericsson and Pool define expertise?
Ericsson and Pool define expertise as a high level of performance in a specific domain that is the result of extensive training and deliberate practice, rather than innate talent.
Deliberate Practice
Type of focused and intentional practice that is aimed at improving a specific skill or ability It involves breaking down a task into its component parts, identifying areas of weakness, and working on those areas with concentrated effort and feedback
What is deliberate practice?
Focused, structured, and targeted efforts to improve specific skills.
To determine true or false: a chessboard with pieces arranged in the pattern of a real game of chess, in the same amount of time an expert can remember the position of the most pieces, followed by an intermediate player, and finally the least remembered by a novice.
True. Experienced players encode the positions of pieces on the board in a more efficient way by remembering the correlation between chess positions, rather than simply remembering which piece is in which position.
What is the difference between “mental representations” and “raw data” as described in Chapter 3 of “Peak” by Ericsson and Pool?
According to Ericsson and Pool, “mental representations” are the internalised structures that experts use to organise and make sense of information, while “raw data” refers to the unprocessed information that we encounter in the world.
Why can passive control groups in psychological research be problematic?
A passive control group may exhibit differences from the treatment group that are not related to the intended manipulation of the independent variable. For example, they may have had less social interaction or less practice with a computer, which could still impact the dependent variable being measured.
Define “the gold standard” in the context of expertise.
The gold standard is the benchmark of expert performance against which other individuals can be compared.
(True/False) Deliberate practices involve feedback and modification of efforts in response to the feedback
TRUE
Why are we more likely to memorise a well constructed sentence rather than a randomly constructed one?
Our brains are wired to identify meaning and relationships, as well as respond to patterns.
n Chapter 3 of “Peak,” what is the “chunking” process, and how does it relate to the development of mental representations?
“Chunking” is a process of grouping individual pieces of information together into larger, more meaningful units, which can then be processed and stored more efficiently in long-term memory. According to Ericsson and Pool in Chapter 3 of “Peak,” this process is a key factor in the development of mental representations, as it allows experts to organise and access their knowledge more quickly and effectively.
What are mental representations?
Answer: Mental representations are cognitive structures that allow us to organize and make sense of information in our minds.
Why do chess experts perform better than novices at recalling non-randomly places pieces on a chess board?
They use logic and knowledge of chess strategy to understand why the pieces are where they are. This leads them to make errors with pieces that are unimportant to the strategy of the game
What is the term coined by Bill Chase and Herb Simon for recognizing patterns rather than specifics, relying on long-term memory rather than short-term to aid in memorizing larger sets?
Chunks.
How does expertise and domain-specific knowledge influence memory, and how do chess experts use their knowledge to improve their memory performance?
Expertise and domain-specific knowledge strongly influence memory performance. Chess experts can recognize familiar patterns and structures in chess positions, which helps them encode and recall information more efficiently. They also have strategies for dealing with novel information that do not fit those patterns, but these strategies require more cognitive effort.
In the 1973 experiment featuring Patrick Wolf, what was the difference between the expert player and the amateur players?
That the images of specific chess postions were remembered almost perfectly by the expert, but when randomly generated chess postions were showed, there was no difference between the expert and amateur player
what is a mental representation?
“a mental structure that corresponds to an object, an idea, a collection of information, or anything else, concrete or abstract, that the brain is thinking about”
True or False: A key fact about mental representation is that they are “domain specific”.
TRUE
According to Ericsson and Pool, what differentiates a good musician from a lesser one?
Their ability to have an accurate and detailed mental representation of the piece they are trying to practice.
The key to achieving expertise is not simply practicing a skill, but engaging in __________ practice, which involves pushing oneself outside of one’s comfort zone and focusing on improving weaknesses.
deliberate
Do we have to always follow the ten thousand-hour rule to become experts in a field?
Yes and no. As long as we apply the principles of deliberate practice, and undergo related practices that are designed to achieve a certain goal, we are able to drastically improve particular aspects of performance.
What is the brain training industry?
The industry of selling programs that improve your cognitive skills on other things
T/F Mental representations are only important for experts and not for novices.
Answer: False. Explanation: In “Peak: Secrets from the new science of expertise” by Ericsson and Pool (2016), mental representations are described as critical for both experts and novices. Mental representations help individuals structure and interpret information in their domain of expertise. While experts have more complex and refined mental representations, novices also benefit from developing them. The development of mental representations is a key part of improving performance and expertise in any skill or domain.
What is the role of feedback in deliberate practice?
Feedback allows experts to identify areas for improvement and adjust their practice strategies accordingly.
What are some measures of cognitive performance?
tests of processing speed, reasoning, intelligence, pattern recognition, and similar constructs, have long been used to predict academic and professional success
True or False: In the video “Memory for Chess Positions,” grandmaster Patrick Wolff discusses the importance of brute force memorization for remembering chess positions.
False. In the video, grandmaster Patrick Wolff discusses his strategies for memorizing and visualizing chess boards, highlighting the importance of chunking and pattern recognition. He argues that chunking or breaking down complex information into smaller, more manageable units, is essential for memorization. Wolff’s approach emphasizes using mental representations to solve complex problems, rather than brute-force memorization.
True or False? Deliberate practice takes place outside one’s comfort zone and requires a student to constantly try things that are just beyond his or her current abilities. Thus, it demands near-maximal effort, which is generally not enjoyable.
True
The core idea of a brain training program mentioned in the lecture by Simons was?
That by practicing one thing, you can get better at other things.
True or False. Deliberate practice can help individuals refine and develop their mental representations to improve their performance.
True. Deliberate practice involves focused and challenging activities designed to improve specific skills or aspects of performance, and can lead to the refinement and development of more complex and well-organized mental representations.