Expertise

Question 1

Define an expert

Answer 1

Experts are extremely efficient at solving various problems in their area of expertise using their extensive knowledge base

Question 2

What is a problem?

Answer 2

• When someone lacks the relevant knowledge to produce a solution
• Problem solving is goal-directed, going from one state to another

Question 3

What is the difference between well-defined and ill-defined problems?

Answer 3

defined - defined strategy and a singular answer

ill-defined - unspecified goals

Question 4

How do Thorndike and Gestalists differ in their view of problem-solving?

Answer 4

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

Question 5

By what 4 ways is insight believed to occur?

Answer 5

• Representational change theory
• Constraint relaxation
• Re-coding
• Elaboration

Question 6

Describe the computational approach

Answer 6

(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)

Question 7

What are the drawbacks of the computational approach?

Answer 7

• Doesn’t work well for ill-defined problems which are most prevalent in everyday life
• Does not explain how emotional states impact problem solving

Question 8

What is analogical problem solving?

Answer 8

• 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

Question 9

What is chuncking theory?

Answer 9

Chase & Simon (1973) method to describe chess expertise: information on positions stored in LTM
however! this takes too long

Question 10

What is template theory?

Answer 10

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

Question 11

What are the advantages and disadvantages of template theory?

Answer 11

• 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

Question 12

What is Implicit/Explicit divide (Engle 2008)?

Answer 12

Explicit/focal search: slow/deliberate, conscious awareness, analytic rule-based strategies
Implicit/global impression: fast/automatic, hollistic/global, gist based

Question 13

What did Krupinsky et al (2006) find in studies examining different levels of medical expertise?

Answer 13

Experts rely more on global impression

Question 14

What is deliberate practice?

Answer 14

Involves informative feedback and repetition of a task where errors are corrected to form a relevant knowledge base
Experts use LTM>WM

Question 15

What are the limitations of deliberate practice?

Answer 15

• Hard to asses
• Not relevant to all skills/professions
• Does not include all innate factors