Exam 2_expertise development, deliberate practice Flashcards
What is talent?
- Natural inclination to be good at something, even with little experience and instruction
- Rare
- Domain-specific
- Associated mostly with genetics
Principle of compensation
it is possible to compensate for certain limitations because talent and success is determined by many factors
relative age effect
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
preconditions of expertise
- early specialisation
- context/surroundings: facilities, coaching, supportive family and friends
- duration
- motivation
birthplace effect
the best players/athletes grow up in average size cities (50,000 – 250,000) – facilities exist and not too many people compete for access
power law of learning
progress per time deacreases over time
What is deliberate practice?
- 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
the ingredients of deliberate practice
- 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
the monotonic benefits assumption
- the acquired performance level is monotonically related to the amount of deliberate practice
Why should experts try to avoid the autonomous phase?
- automatized processes are hard to change
- expertise sometimes means making minute changes at a very fundamental level/at every point in the process
What is the bucket analogy of talent?
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
How does deliberate practice affect the physiology of experts?
- 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
What are representative tasks?
tasks that show reproducible superior performance in the field that is studied and that capture the essence of the domain
intrinsic task vs contrived task
intrinsic: gets at the essence of the of the domain for which it tests skill
what are the three stages of research following the expert-performance approach?
- 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
examples of standard methodologies used to identify mechanisms mediating expert performance
latencies, exe fixations, verbal reports
What do sophisticated mental representations help experts do?
- 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
What is the main factor that facilitates the acquisition of these mechanisms?
deliberate practice (under the right conditions, e.g resources, supportive environment)
What do Ericsson and colleagues say about genetic factors?
- not proven to impact performance so far (except for body eight etc.)
- may influence motivational factors
What is the aim of the deliberate practice theory?
explain exceptional achivement, not develop a traning strategy
What are the cognitive, associative and autonomous phases in deliberate practice?
- 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
What is arrested devlopment in deliberate practice?
- Arrested development: experts who stopped training
What are domain general and domain specific abilities?
- Domain general: innate, general abilities relevant for any domain
- Domain specific: abilities specifically associated with the domain – strongly related to expertise
When do experts in different domains peak and what do the different types of intelligence have to do with it?
- athletics, music: 20s - requires body at peak and fluid intelligence
- maths, physics: 30s - requires fluid intelligence
- philsophy, literature, art, architecture: 40s, 50s - crytallized intelligence
