Expertise and Skill Acquisition

The research on human expertise and complex skill acquisition that Wlliam G. Chase performed in the decade between publication of the classic chess studies he conducted with Herb Simon in 1973 and his untimely and tragic death has proven profoundly influential and enduring. Its impact spans disciplines that include Psychology, Computer Science, Education, Cognitive Neuroscience, Medicine, and Human Factors. It has contributed significantly to the emergence of Cognitive Engineering and has led to significant applications in the areas of training and instruction and knowledge-based "intelligent" computational systems. Its influence can be seen in current discussions of intelligence, heritability, intellectual potential, and achievement found in the contemporary popular press. The chapters in this volume document the enduring scientific contributions of William G. Chase to current knowledge and understanding of human expertise and skill acquisition and applications his work has supported. It will be of interest to those researching, studying, and working in the multiple fields that were greatly influenced by Chase's work.

James J. Staszewski is a research professor in the psychology department at Carnegie Mellon University. He conducts use-inspired research focused on understanding human expertise and its development and applies the results to designing training programs and training technologies.

Introduction. Chi, M.T.H., Learning From Observing An Expert's Demonstration, Explanations, and Dialogues. Staszewski, J.J., Cognitive Engineering Based on Expert Skill. Chase, C.C., Motivating Persistence in the Face of Failure: Equipping Novice Learners with the Motivational Tools of Experts. Charness, N., Approaches to the Study of Life-Span Chess Expertise. Siegler, R.S., How Do People Become Experts? Gobet, F., Chunks and Templates in Semantic Long-term Memory: The Importance of Specialization. Schvaneveldt, R.W., Cohen, T.A., Whitfield, G.K., Paths to Discovery. Rosenbaum, D.A., Development of Expertise and the Control of Physical Action. Ericsson, K.A., Exceptional Memory and Expert Performance: From Simon and Chase's Theory of Expertise to Skilled Memory and Beyond. Kotovsky, K., Expertises. Posner, M.I., The Expert Brain. Righi, G., Category-Selective Recruitment of the Fusiform Gyrus with Chess Expertise. Tarr, M.J., Kingon, A., Beilock, S.L., Expert Performance: From Action to Perception to Understanding. Anderson, J.R., Betts, S., Ferris, J.L., Fincham, J.M., Neural Imaging be Used to Investigate Learning in an Educational Task? Ansari, D., The Emergence of a Multi-level Approach to the Study of Skill Acquisition and Expertise.