Exam 2_expertise development, deliberate practice

Question 1

What is talent?

Answer 1

• Natural inclination to be good at something, even with little experience and instruction
• Rare
• Domain-specific
• Associated mostly with genetics

Question 2

Principle of compensation

Answer 2

it is possible to compensate for certain limitations because talent and success is determined by many factors

Question 3

relative age effect

Answer 3

Age difference between children in one age group (who train together and compete against each other) leads to older children (depending on cut-off date) being perceived as better

Question 4

preconditions of expertise

Answer 4

• early specialisation
• context/surroundings: facilities, coaching, supportive family and friends
• duration
• motivation

Question 5

birthplace effect

Answer 5

the best players/athletes grow up in average size cities (50,000 – 250,000) – facilities exist and not too many people compete for access

Question 6

power law of learning

Answer 6

progress per time deacreases over time

Question 7

What is deliberate practice?

Answer 7

• Special type of practice that is purposeful and systematic
• Focused attention, specific goal of improving performance
• A teacher or coach is essential to supervise the process

Question 8

the ingredients of deliberate practice

Answer 8

• It should be clear what you need to do
• Instructions should be at the right level (zone of proximal development)
• Repetition
• Good and timely feedback
• Errors should be made and there should be opportunities to correct them

Question 9

the monotonic benefits assumption

Answer 9

• the acquired performance level is monotonically related to the amount of deliberate practice

Question 10

Why should experts try to avoid the autonomous phase?

Answer 10

• automatized processes are hard to change
• expertise sometimes means making minute changes at a very fundamental level/at every point in the process

Question 11

What is the bucket analogy of talent?

Answer 11

Believers in innate talent think potential is like a bucket with a determined size that can be filled up with practice but not expanded - not supported by deliberate practice theory

Question 12

How does deliberate practice affect the physiology of experts?

Answer 12

• pushes body beyond the comfort zone (persistently)
• induces an abnormal status in cells
• activates genes that facilitate bodily re-organization
• acquisition of physiological characteristics of experts in the field through a sequence of adaptations

Question 13

What are representative tasks?

Answer 13

tasks that show reproducible superior performance in the field that is studied and that capture the essence of the domain

Question 14

intrinsic task vs contrived task

Answer 14

intrinsic: gets at the essence of the of the domain for which it tests skill

Question 15

what are the three stages of research following the expert-performance approach?

Answer 15

• capturing superior performance in controlled lab settings
• identifying the (physiological and cognitive) mechanisms that mediate expert levels of performance using standard methodologies
• identify factors that influence the acquisition of these mechanisms at various stages of performance

Question 16

examples of standard methodologies used to identify mechanisms mediating expert performance

Answer 16

latencies, exe fixations, verbal reports

Question 17

What do sophisticated mental representations help experts do?

Answer 17

• rapidly perceive and interpret information/situation
• plan and evaluate possible courses of action
• anticipate and prepare for actions
• control interior and exterior factors, e.g. motor actions

Question 18

What is the main factor that facilitates the acquisition of these mechanisms?

Answer 18

deliberate practice (under the right conditions, e.g resources, supportive environment)

Question 19

What do Ericsson and colleagues say about genetic factors?

Answer 19

• not proven to impact performance so far (except for body eight etc.)
• may influence motivational factors

Question 20

What is the aim of the deliberate practice theory?

Answer 20

explain exceptional achivement, not develop a traning strategy

Question 21

What are the cognitive, associative and autonomous phases in deliberate practice?

Answer 21

• Cognitive: working memory, problem-solving, conscious attention, processing new information
• Associative: building efficiency, attention on linking new information (e.g. from coaching) to developed processes, knowledge compilation
• Autonomous: automated processes, hardly any conscious thought or working memory/cognitive load

Question 22

What is arrested devlopment in deliberate practice?

Answer 22

• Arrested development: experts who stopped training

Question 23

What are domain general and domain specific abilities?

Answer 23

• Domain general: innate, general abilities relevant for any domain
• Domain specific: abilities specifically associated with the domain – strongly related to expertise

Question 24

When do experts in different domains peak and what do the different types of intelligence have to do with it?

Answer 24

• athletics, music: 20s - requires body at peak and fluid intelligence
• maths, physics: 30s - requires fluid intelligence
• philsophy, literature, art, architecture: 40s, 50s - crytallized intelligence