Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-8kt4b Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-02T11:51:05.379Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

36 - Superior Working Memory in Experts

from Part VI - Generalizable Mechanisms Mediating Types of Expertise

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 May 2018

By
K. Anders Ericsson
Edited by
K. Anders Ericsson ,
Robert R. Hoffman ,
Aaron Kozbelt  and
A. Mark Williams
K. Anders Ericsson
Affiliation:
Florida State University
Robert R. Hoffman
Affiliation:
Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition
Aaron Kozbelt
Affiliation:
Brooklyn College, City University of New York
A. Mark Williams
Affiliation:
University of Utah
Get access

Summary

A summary is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.
Image of the first page of this content. For PDF version, please use the ‘Save PDF’ preceeding this image.'
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance , pp. 696 - 713
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2018

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allard, F., & Burnett, N. (1985). Skill in sport. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 39, 294–312.Google Scholar
Allard, F., Graham, S., & Paarsalu, M. E. (1980). Perception in sport: Basketball. Journal of Sport Psychology, 2, 14–21.Google Scholar
Bellezza, F. S., & Buck, D. K. (1988). Expert knowledge as mnemonic cues. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 2, 147–162.Google Scholar
Binet, A. (1894). Psychologie des grands calculateurs et joueurs d’echecs (The psychology of great calculators and chess players). Paris: Librairie Hachette.Google Scholar
Bourgeaud, P., & Abernethy, B. (1987). Skilled perception in volleyball defense. Journal of Sport Psychology, 9, 400–406.Google Scholar
Burgoyne, A. P., Sala, G., Gobet, F., Macnamara, B. N., Campitelli, G., & Hambrick, D. Z. (2016). The relationship between cognitive ability and chess skill: A comprehensive meta-analysis. Intelligence, 59, 72–83.Google Scholar
Chabris, C. F., & Hearst, E. S. (2003). Visualization, pattern recognition, and forward search: Effects of playing speed and sight of the position on grandmaster chess errors. Cognitive Science, 27, 637–648.Google Scholar
Charness, N. (1976). Memory for chess positions: Resistance to interference. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 2, 641–653Google Scholar
Charness, N. (1979). Components of skill in bridge. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 33, 1–16.Google Scholar
Charness, N. (1981). Search in chess: Age and skill differences. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 7, 467–476.Google Scholar
Charness, N., Tuffiash, M., Krampe, R., Reingold, E., & Vasyukova, E. (2005). The role of deliberate practice in chess expertise. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 19, 151–165.Google Scholar
Chase, W. G., & Ericsson, K. A. (1981). Skilled memory. In Anderson, J. R. (ed.), Cognitive skills and their acquisition (pp. 141–189). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Chase, W. G., & Ericsson, K. A. (1982). Skill and working memory. In Bower, G. (ed.), The psychology of learning and motivation (Vol. 16, pp. 1–58). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Chase, W. G., & Simon, H. A. (1973). The mind’s eye in chess. In Chase, W. G. (ed.), Visual information processing (pp. 215–281). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Christoffels, I. K., & de Groot, A. M. B. (2005). Simultaneous interpreting: A cognitive perspective. In Kroll, J. F. & de Groot, A. M. B. (eds.), Handbook of bilingualism: Psycholinguistic approaches (pp. 454–479). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Cowley, M., & Byrne, R. M. J. (2004). Chess masters’ hypothesis testing. Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 250–255). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
de Groot, A. (1978). Thought and choice in chess (2nd edn.). The Hague: Mouton (Original work published 1946)Google Scholar
Dillinger, M. (1994). Comprehension during interpreting: What do interpreters know that bilinguals don’t? In Lambert, S. and Moser-Mercer, B. (eds.), Bridging the gap: Empirical research in simultaneous interpretation (pp. 155–189). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Djakow, J. N., Petrowski, N. W., & Rudik, P. A. (1927). Psychologie des Schachspiels (The psychology of chess). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Egan, D. E., & Schwartz, B. J. (1979). Chunking in recall of symbolic drawings. Memory & Cognition, 7, 149–158.Google Scholar
Engle, R. W., & Bukstel, L. H. (1978). Memory processes among bridge players of differing expertise. American Journal of Psychology, 91, 673–689.Google Scholar
Ericsson, K. A. (1985). Memory skill. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 39, 188–231.Google Scholar
Ericsson, K. A. (1996). The acquisition of expert performance: An introduction to some of the issues. In Ericsson, K. A. (ed.), The road to excellence: The acquisition of expert performance in the arts and sciences, sports and games (pp. 1–50). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Ericsson, K. A. (2010). Expertise in interpreting: An expert-performance perspective. In Shreve, G. M. and Angleone, E. (eds.), Translation and cognition (pp. 231–262). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Ericsson, K. A. (2014). Why expert performance is special and cannot be extrapolated from studies of performance in the general population: A response to criticisms. Intelligence, 45, 81–103.Google Scholar
Ericsson, K. A. (2016). Summing up hours of any type of practice versus identifying optimal practice activities: Comments on Macnamara, Moreau, and Hambrick (2016). Perspectives on Psychological Science, 11, 351–354.Google Scholar
Ericsson, K. A., & Charness, N. (1994). Expert performance: Its structure and acquisition. American Psychologist, 49, 725–747.Google Scholar
Ericsson, K. A., Chase, W. G., & Faloon, S. (1980). Acquisition of memory skill. Science, 208, 1181–1182.Google Scholar
Ericsson, K. A., & Harris, M. S. (1990). Expert chess memory without chess knowledge: A training study. Poster presented at the 31st Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, New Orleans, Louisiana.Google Scholar
Ericsson, K. A., & Kintsch, W. (1995). Long-term working memory. Psychological Review, 102, 211–245.Google Scholar
Ericsson, K. A., Krampe, R. T., & Tesch-Römer, C. (1993). The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance. Psychological Review, 100, 363–406.Google Scholar
Ericsson, K. A., & Lehmann, A. C. (1996). Expert and exceptional performance: Evidence on maximal adaptations on task constraints. Annual Review of Psychology, 47, 273–305.Google Scholar
Ericsson, K. A., & Moxley, J. H. (2012). A critique of Howard’s argument for innate limits of chess performance or why we need an account based on acquired skill and deliberate practice. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 26, 649–653.Google Scholar
Ericsson, K. A., & Oliver, W. (1989). A methodology for assessing the detailed structure of memory skills. In Colley, A. and Beech, J. (eds.), The acquisition and performance of cognitive skills (pp. 193–215). London: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Ericsson, K. A., Patel, V. L., & Kintsch, W. (2000). How experts’ adaptations to representative task demands account for the expertise effect in memory recall: Comment on Vicente and Wang (1998). Psychological Review, 107, 578–592.Google Scholar
Ericsson, K. A., & Smith, J. (1991). Prospects and limits in the empirical study of expertise: An introduction. In Ericsson, K. A. & Smith, J. (eds.), Toward a general theory of expertise: Prospects and limits (pp. 1–38). Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ericsson, K. A., & Staszewski, J. J. (1989). Skilled memory and expertise: Mechanisms of exceptional performance. In Klahr, D. & Kotovsky, K. (eds.), Complex information processing: The impact of Herbert A. Simon (pp. 235–267). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Ericsson, K. A., & Ward, P. (2007). Capturing the naturally occurring superior performance of experts in the laboratory: Toward a science of expert and exceptional performance. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16, 346–350.Google Scholar
Ericsson, K. A., & Williams, A. M. (2007). Capturing naturally-occurring superior performance in the laboratory: Translational research on expert performance. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 13, 115–123.Google Scholar
Furley, P., & Memmert, D. (2015). Creativity and working memory capacity in sports: Working memory capacity is not a limiting factor in creative decision making amongst skilled performers. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 115.Google Scholar
Gerver, D., Longley, P., Long, J., & Lambert, S. (1984). Selecting trainee conference interpreters: A preliminary study. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 57, 17–31.Google Scholar
Gibson, E. J., & Levin, H. (1975). The psychology of reading. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Gilhooly, K. J., Wood, M., Kinnear, P. R., & Green, C. (1988). Skill in map reading and memory for maps. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A, 40, 87–107.Google Scholar
Gobet, F., & Jackson, S. (2002). In search of templates. Cognitive Systems Research, 3, 35–44.Google Scholar
Gobet, F., & Simon, H. A. (1996). Templates in chess memory: A mechanism for recalling several boards. Cognitive Psychology, 31, 1–40.Google Scholar
Hatano, G., Amaiwa, S., & Shimizu, K. (1987). Formation of a mental abacus for computation and its use as a memory device for digits: A developmental study. Developmental Psychology, 23, 832–838.Google Scholar
Hatano, G., Miyake, Y., & Binks, M. G. (1977). Performance of expert abacus operators. Cognition, 5, 47–55.Google Scholar
Hatano, G., & Osawa, K. (1983). Digit memory of grand experts in abacus-derived mental calculation. Cognition, 15, 95–110.Google Scholar
Helsen, W., & Pauwels, J. M. (1993). The relationship between expertise and visual information processing in sport. In Starkes, J. & Allard, F. (eds.), Cognitive issues in motor expertise (pp. 109–134). Amsterdam: North-Holland/Elsevier Science.Google Scholar
Helsen, W. F., & Starkes, J. L. (1999). A multidimensional approach to skilled perception and performance in sport. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 13, 1–27.Google Scholar
Hiltunen, S., Pääkkönen, R., Vik, G.-V., & Krause, C. M. (2016). On interpreters’ working memory and executive control. International Journal of Bilingualism, 20 , 297–314.Google Scholar
Hiltunen, S., & Vik, G.-V. (2017). Interpreters – experts in careful listening and efficient encoding? Findings of a prose recall test. International Journal of Bilingualism, 21, 194–212.Google Scholar
Holding, D. H. (1985). The psychology of chess skill. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Holding, D. H., & Pfau, H. D. (1985). Thinking ahead in chess. American Journal of Psychology, 98, 271–282.Google Scholar
Intons-Peterson, M. J., & Smyth, M. M. (1987). The anatomy of repertory memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 13, 490–500.Google Scholar
Jensen, A. R. (1990). Speed of information processing in a calculating prodigy. Intelligence, 14, 259–274.Google Scholar
Jeremic, V., Vukmirovic, D., & Radojicic, Z. (2010). Does playing blindfold chess reduce the quality of game: Comments on Chabris and Hearst (2003). Cognitive Science, 34, 1–9.Google Scholar
Johnson, J. G., & Raab, M. (2003). Take the first: Option-generation and resulting choices. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 91, 215–229.Google Scholar
Karpov, A. (1995). Grandmaster musings. Chess Life, November, 32–33.Google Scholar
Koltanowski, G. (1985). In the dark. Coraopolis, PA: Chess Enterprises.Google Scholar
Kopiez, R., & Lee, J. L. (2006). Towards a dynamic model of skills involved in sight reading music. Music Education Research, 8, 97–120.Google Scholar
Kopiez, R., & Lee, J. L. (2008). Towards a general model of skills involved in sight reading music. Music Education Research, 10, 41–62.Google Scholar
Köpke, B., & Nespoulous, J.-L. (2006). Working memory performance in expert and novice interpreters. Interpreting, 8, 1–23.Google Scholar
Köpke, B., & Signorelli, T. M. (2012). Methodological aspects of working memory assessment in simultaneous interpreters. International Journal of Bilingualism, 16, 183–197.Google Scholar
Lehmann, A. C., & Ericsson, K. A. (1993). Sight-reading ability of expert pianists in the context of piano accompanying, Psychomusicology, 12, 182–195.Google Scholar
Liu, M. (2008). How do experts interpret? Implications from research in interpreting studies and cognitive science. In Hansen, G., Chesterman, A., & Gerzymisch-Arbogast, H. (eds.), Efforts and models interpreting and translation research (pp. 159–177). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Macnamara, B. N., Hambrick, D. Z., & Oswald, F. L. (2014). Deliberate practice and performance in music, games, sports, education, and professions: A meta-analysis. Psychological Science, 25, 1608–1618.Google Scholar
Macnamara, B. N., Moreau, D., & Hambrick, D. Z. (2016). The relationship between deliberate practice and performance in sports: A meta-analysis. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 11, 333–350.Google Scholar
Martin, P. R., & Fernberger, S. W. (1929). Improvement in memory span. American Journal of Psychology, 41, 91–94.Google Scholar
McKeithen, K. B., Reitman, J. S., Rueter, H. H., & Hirtle, S. C. (1981). Knowledge organization and skill differences in computer programmers. Cognitive Psychology, 13, 307–325.Google Scholar
Meinz, E. J., & Hambrick, D. Z. (2010). Deliberate practice is necessary but not sufficient to explain individual differences in piano sight-reading skill: The role of working memory capacity. Psychological Science, 21, 914–919.Google Scholar
Memory and Mental Calculation World Records (2015). www.recordholders.org/en/list/memory.html#numbers-spoken-1.Google Scholar
Miller, G. A. (1956). The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information. Psychological Review, 63, 343–355.Google Scholar
Moser-Mercer, B. (2000). Simultaneous interpreting: Cognitive potential and limitations. Interpreting, 5, 83–94.Google Scholar
Moxley, J. H., Ericsson, K. A., Charness, N., & Krampe, R. T. (2012). The role of intuition and deliberative thinking in experts’ superior tactical decision making. Cognition, 124, 72–78.Google Scholar
Newell, A., & Simon, H. A. (1972). Human problem solving. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Noice, T., & Noice, H. (1997). The nature of expertise in professional acting: A cognitive view. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Norman, G. R., Brooks, L. R., & Allen, S. W. (1989). Recall by expert medical practitioners and novices as a record of processing attention. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 15, 1166–1174.Google Scholar
North, J., Williams, A. M., Ward, P., & Ericsson, A. (2011). Identifying the critical information sources to skilled anticipation and recognition using retrospective verbal reports. Memory, 2, 155–168.Google Scholar
Patel, V. L., Arocha, J. F., & Kaufmann, D. R. (1994). Diagnostic reasoning and medical expertise. In Medin, D. (ed.), The psychology of learning and motivation (Vol. 30, pp. 187–251). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Patel, V. L., & Groen, G. J. (1991). The general and specific nature of medical expertise: A critical look. In Ericsson, K. A. & Smith, J. (eds.), Toward a general theory of expertise: Prospects and limits (pp. 93–125). Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pesenti, M., Seron, X., Samson, D., & Duroux, B. (1999). Basic and exceptional calculation abilities in a calculating prodigy: A case study. Mathematical Cognition, 5, 97–148.Google Scholar
Raab, M., & Johnson, J. G. (2007). Expertise-based differences in search and option-generation strategies. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 13, 158–170.Google Scholar
Reitman, J. (1976). Skilled perception in Go: Deducing memory structures from inter-response times. Cognitive Psychology, 8, 336–356.Google Scholar
Saariluoma, P. (1991). Aspects of skilled imagery in blindfold chess. Acta Psychologica, 77, 65–89.Google Scholar
Saariluoma, P. (1992). Error in chess: The apperception-restructuring view. Psychological Research, 54, 17–26.Google Scholar
Saariluoma, P. (1995). Chess players’ thinking: A cognitive psychological approach. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Saariluoma, P., & Kalakoski, V. (1998). Apperception and imagery in blindfold chess. Memory, 6, 67–80.Google Scholar
Salthouse, T. A. (1984). Effects of age and skill in typing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 113, 345–371.Google Scholar
Signorelli, T. M. (2008). Working memory in simultaneous interpretation. Dissertation Abstracts International, B 69/05.Google Scholar
Simon, H. (1974). How big is a chunk? Science, 183, 482–488.Google Scholar
Simon, H. A., & Chase, W. G. (1973). Skill in chess. American Scientist, 61, 394–403.Google Scholar
Simon, H. A., & Simon, P. A. (1962). Trial and error search in solving difficult problems: Evidence from the game of chess. Behavioral Science, 7, 425–429.Google Scholar
Sloboda, J. A. (1974). The eye–hand span: An approach to the study of sight reading. Psychology of Music, 2, 4–10.Google Scholar
Sloboda, J. A., & Parker, H. H. (1985). Immediate recall of melodies. In Cross, I., Howell, P., & West, R. (eds.), Musical structure and cognition (pp. 143–167). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Smith, S. B. (1983). The great mental calculators. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Spearritt, D. (2013). The impact of field vision on performance within an English Premier League academy soccer team: A case study. Master’s Dissertation, University of Chester. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.Google Scholar
Starkes, J. L. (1987). Skill in field hockey: The nature of the cognitive advantage. Journal of Sport Psychology, 9, 146–160.Google Scholar
Starkes, J. L., & Deakin, J. (1984). Perception in sport: A cognitive approach to skilled performance. In Straub, W. F. & Williams, J. M. (eds.), Cognitive sport psychology (pp. 115–128). Lansing, NY: Sport Science Associates.Google Scholar
Starkes, J. L., Deakin, J. M., Lindley, S., & Crisp, F. (1987). Motor versus verbal recall of ballet sequences by young expert dancers. Journal of Sport Psychology, 9, 222–230.Google Scholar
Staszewski, J. J. (1988). Skilled memory and expert mental calculation. In Chi, M. T. H., Glaser, R., & Farr, M. J. (eds.), The nature of expertise (pp. 71–128). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Stigler, J. W. (1984). “Mental abacus”: The effect of abacus training on Chinese children’s mental calculation. Cognitive Psychology, 16, 145–176.Google Scholar
Strobach, T., Becker, M., Schubert, T., & Kühn, S. (2015). Better dual-task processing in simultaneous interpreters. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1590.Google Scholar
Thompson, W. B. (1987). Music sight-reading skill in flute players. Journal of General Psychology, 114, 345–352.Google Scholar
van der Maas, H. L. J., & Wagenmakers, E. J. (2005). A psychometric analysis of chess expertise. American Journal of Psychology, 118, 29–60.Google Scholar
Van Overschelde, J. P., & Healy, A. F. (2001). Learning of nondomain facts in high- and low-knowledge domains. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 27, 1160–1171.Google Scholar
Vicente, K. J., & Wang, J. H. (1998). An ecological theory of expertise effects in memory recall. Psychological Review, 105, 33–57.Google Scholar
Ward, P., Ericsson, K. A., & Williams, A. M. (2013). Complex perceptual-cognitive expertise in a simulated task environment. Journal of Cognitive Engineering and Decision Making, 7, 231–254.Google Scholar
Ward, P., & Williams, A. M. (2003). Perceptual and cognitive skill development in soccer: The multidimensional nature of expert performance. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 25, 93–111.Google Scholar
Wilding, J., & Valentine, E. (2006). Exceptional memory. In Ericsson, K. A., Charness, N., Hoffman, R. R., & Feltovich, P. J. (eds.), The Cambridge handbook of expertise and expert performance (pp. 539–552). Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wimmers, P. F., Schmidt, H. G., Verkoeijen, P. P. J. L., & van de Wiel, M. W. J. (2005). Inducing expertise effects in clinical case recall. Medical Education, 39, 949–957.Google Scholar
Wolff, A. S., Mitchell, D. H., & Frey, P. W. (1984). Perceptual skill in the game of Othello. Journal of Psychology, 118, 7–16.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×