Expertise Flashcards
Define an expert
Experts are extremely efficient at solving various problems in their area of expertise using their extensive knowledge base
What is a problem?
- When someone lacks the relevant knowledge to produce a solution
- Problem solving is goal-directed, going from one state to another
What is the difference between well-defined and ill-defined problems?
defined - defined strategy and a singular answer
ill-defined - unspecified goals
How do Thorndike and Gestalists differ in their view of problem-solving?
Throndike - focus on trial-and-error learning, arbitrary relationship between behaviour and goasl
Gestalists - complex productive thinking, where insight is the sudden restructuring of a problem
By what 4 ways is insight believed to occur?
- Representational change theory
- Constraint relaxation
- Re-coding
- Elaboration
Describe the computational approach
(Newell & Simon 1972)
Ways in which humans overcome limited information capacity to overcome a problem:
1. Heuristics (rules of thumb)
2. Algorithms
3. Means-end analysis (comparison of goal-state to current state in order to set a number of sub-goals to increase proximity)
What are the drawbacks of the computational approach?
- Doesn’t work well for ill-defined problems which are most prevalent in everyday life
- Does not explain how emotional states impact problem solving
What is analogical problem solving?
- Where similarities (superficial/structural/procedural) between current and past solved problems are used
- Depends on WM
e. g doctors solve medical problem faster when first given an analogy
What is chuncking theory?
Chase & Simon (1973) method to describe chess expertise: information on positions stored in LTM
however! this takes too long
What is template theory?
describes chess expertise
- core containing fixed information stored in chunks
- slots where variable information about pieces and locations is stored
- adaptable and flexible system with an abstract schematic structure
- predicts 3 large templates where knowledge can be accessed rapidly
What are the advantages and disadvantages of template theory?
- Chess experts show more template based knowledge and better memory for random positions
- However does not show the importance of of slow search processes, explain adaptive expertise or account for individual differences
What is Implicit/Explicit divide (Engle 2008)?
Explicit/focal search: slow/deliberate, conscious awareness, analytic rule-based strategies
Implicit/global impression: fast/automatic, hollistic/global, gist based
What did Krupinsky et al (2006) find in studies examining different levels of medical expertise?
Experts rely more on global impression
What is deliberate practice?
Involves informative feedback and repetition of a task where errors are corrected to form a relevant knowledge base
Experts use LTM>WM
What are the limitations of deliberate practice?
- Hard to asses
- Not relevant to all skills/professions
- Does not include all innate factors
