Specificity of Postural Control: Comparing Expert and Intermediate Dancers

The expert–novice approach is inappropriate for studying postural control in sport and dance when novices are completely unable to perform relevant postural tasks and experts cannot demonstrate specific skills on everyday postural tasks. We tested expertise-specific differences on 6 static everyday and 5 dynamic dance-like postural tasks of varying difficulty in 13 professional and 12 intermediate nonprofessional dancers. Results showed a clear expert advantage on sway area for dance-like postural tasks, but not for static everyday tasks. This effect was also found for the control parameter of root mean square (RMS) velocity and partly for RMS amplitude of the difference signal between CoP and CoG line location. Results indicate that the expert advantage is task-specific and deliver new insights into the specificity of experts' postural performance.     

Identification of interindividual and intraindividual movement patterns in handball players of varying expertise levels

The authors examined the movement patterns of 5 left-handed handball players (ranging from beginner to national level) who threw a handball to different sections of a goal as if a goalkeeper were present. The authors used time-continuous, 3-dimensional kinematic data to assess interindividual movement patterns and considered participants' intraindividual differences relative to different targets. Cluster analysis yielded the highest assignment rates for level of expertise; a mean of 92% of trials was correctly assessed. The authors observed an interaction with expertise for the intraindividual movement patterns. Variability in the novice throwers was increased, whereas (a) advanced throwers experienced a period of stability, and (b) the expert thrower's variability was increased. The results indicate that random variability characterizes novice motor performance, whereas active functional variability may exemplify expert motor performance.     

Identification of Interindividual and Intraindividual Movement Patterns in Handball Players of Varying Expertise Levels

The authors examined the movement patterns of 5 left-handed handball players (ranging from beginner to national level) who threw a handball to different sections of a goal as if a goalkeeper were present. The authors used time-continuous, 3-dimensional kinematic data to assess interindividual movement patterns and considered participants' intraindividual differences relative to different targets. Cluster analysis yielded the highest assignment rates for level of expertise; a mean of 92% of trials was correctly assessed. The authors observed an interaction with expertise for the intraindividual movement patterns. Variability in the novice throwers was increased, whereas (a) advanced throwers experienced a period of stability, and (b) the expert thrower's variability was increased. The results indicate that random variability characterizes novice motor performance, whereas active functional variability may exemplify expert motor performance.     

Focus of attention and automaticity in handwriting

This study investigated the nature of automaticity in everyday tasks by testing handwriting performance under single and dual-task conditions. Item familiarity and hand dominance were also manipulated to understand both cognitive and motor components of the task. In line with previous literature, performance was superior in an extraneous focus of attention condition compared to two different skill focus conditions. This effect was found only when writing with the dominant hand. In addition, performance was superior for high familiarity compared to low familiarity items. These findings indicate that motor and cognitive familiarity are related to the degree of automaticity of motor skills and can be manipulated to produce different performance outcomes. The findings also imply that the progression of skill acquisition from novel to novice to expert levels can be traced using different dual-task conditions. The separation of motor and cognitive familiarity is a new approach in the handwriting domain, and provides insight into the nature of attentional demands during performance.     

Haste does not always make waste: Expertise,direction of attention,and speed versus accuracy in performing sensorimotor skills

In two experiments, we examined the attentional mechanisms governing sensorimotor skill execution across levels of expertise. In Experiment 1, novice and expert golfers took a series of putts under dual-task conditions designed to distract attention from putting and under skill-focused conditions that prompted attention to step-by-stePperformance. Novices performed better under skill-focused than under dual-task conditions. Experts showed the opposite pattern. In Experiment 2, novice and expert golfers putted under instructions that emphasized either putting accuracy or speed—the latter intended to reduce the time available to monitor and explicitly adjust execution parameters. Novices putted better under accuracy instructions. Experts were more accurate under speed instructions. In agreement with theories of skill acquisition and automaticity, novice performance is enhanced by conditions that allow for on-line attentional monitoring (e.g., skill-focused or accuracy instructions) in comparison with conditions that prevent explicit attentional control of skill execution (e.g., dual-task or speed constraints). In contrast, the proceduralized skill of experts benefits from environments that limit, rather than encourage, attention to execution.     

Diagnostic thinking processes: evidence from a constructive interaction study of electrocardiogram (ECG) interpretation

This paper examines the use of different types of knowledge at different levels of expertise in the domain of electrocardiogram (ECG) interpretation. Analyses of constructive interaction protocols from expert, novice and intermediate subjects working in same-skill pairs on six ECG traces indicated that: novice and intermediate pairs produced proportionately more trace characterizing statements than the other groups; expert pairs produced proportionately more clinical hypothesis statements and proportionately fewer but more complex biomedical inference statements than the other groups. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Example‐based learning: Effects of model expertise in relation to student expertise

Background. Worked examples are very effective for novice learners. They typically present a written‐out ideal (didactical) solution for learners to study. Aims. This study used worked examples of patient history taking in physiotherapy that presented a non‐didactical solution (i.e., based on actual performance). The effects of model expertise (i.e., worked example based on advanced, third‐year student model or expert physiotherapist model) in relation to students' expertise (i.e., first‐ or second‐year) were investigated. Sample. One hundred and thirty‐four physiotherapy students (61 first‐year and 73 second‐year). Methods. Design was 2×2 factorial with factors ‘Student Expertise’ (first‐year vs. second‐year) and ‘Model Expertise’ (expert vs. advanced student). Within expertise levels, students were randomly assigned to the Expert Example or the Advanced Student Example condition. All students studied two examples (content depending on their assigned condition) and then completed a retention and test task. They rated their invested mental effort after each example and test task. Results. Second‐year students invested less mental effort in studying the examples, and in performing the retention and transfer tasks than first‐year students. They also performed better on the retention test, but not on the transfer test. In contrast to our hypothesis, there was no interaction between student expertise and model expertise: all students who had studied the Expert examples performed better on the transfer test than students who had studied Advanced Student Examples. Conclusions. This study suggests that when worked examples are based on actual performance, rather than an ideal procedure, expert models are to be preferred over advanced student models.     

Task switching in video game players: Benefits of selective attention but not resistance to proactive interference

Research into the perceptual and cognitive effects of playing video games is an area of increasing interest for many investigators. Over the past decade, expert video game players (VGPs) have been shown to display superior performance compared to non-video game players (nVGPs) on a range of visuospatial and attentional tasks. A benefit of video game expertise has recently been shown for task switching, suggesting that VGPs also have superior cognitive control abilities compared to nVGPs. In two experiments, we examined which aspects of task switching performance this VGP benefit may be localized to. With minimal trial-to-trial interference from minimally overlapping task set rules, VGPs demonstrated a task switching benefit compared to nVGPs. However, this benefit disappeared when proactive interference between tasks was increased, with substantial stimulus and response overlap in task set rules. We suggest that VGPs have no generalized benefit in task switching-related cognitive control processes compared to nVGPs, with switch cost reductions due instead to a specific benefit in controlling selective attention.     

When affordances climb into your mind: Advantages of motor simulation in a memory task performed by novice and expert rock climbers

Does the sight of multiple climbing holds laid along a path activate a motor simulation of climbing that path? One way of testing whether multiple affordances and their displacement influence the formation of a motor simulation is to study acquired motor skills. We used a behavioral task in which expert and novice rock climbers were shown three routes: an easy route, a route impossible to climb but perceptually salient, and a difficult route. After a distraction task, they were then given a recall test in which they had to write down the sequence of holds composing each route. We found no difference between experts and novices on the easy and impossible routes, whereas on the difficult route, the performance of experts was better than that of novices. This suggests that seeing a climbing wall activates a motor, embodied simulation, which relies not on perceptual salience, but on motor competence. More importantly, our results show that the capability to form this simulation is modulated by individuals’ motor repertoire and expertise, and that this strongly impacts recall.     

Perceptual Expertise as a Shift from Strategic Interference to Automatic Holistic Processing

Holistic processing was initially characterized a unique hallmark of face perception (e.g., Young et al., 1987) and later argued a domain-general marker of perceptual expertise (e.g., Gauthier et al., 1998). More recently, evidence for holistic processing - measured by interference from task-irrelevant parts - was obtained in novices, raising questions for its usefulness as a test of expertise. Indeed, recent studies use the same task to make opposite claims: Hsiao & Cottrell (2009) found more interference in novices than experts for Chinese characters, while Wong, Palmeri & Gauthier (2009) found more interference in experts than novices with objects. Offering a resolution to this paradox, our work on the perception of musical notation (Wong & Gauthier, in press) suggests that expert and novice interference effects represent two ends of a continuum: interference is initially strategic and contextual, but becomes more automatic as holistic processing develops with the acquisition of perceptual expertise.     

The Effect of Motor-Mental Preperformance Routines on Motor Performance in Novice Learners

Two sequential studies were conducted to test the notion that preperformance routines (PPRs) positively affect motor performance. The first study consisted of observations and interviews with 115 elite athletes to explore crucial time periods and body positions inherent in expert preparation for performing a golf putt, tennis serve, volleyball serve, and basketball free throw. In the second study, we taught these features of PPR to novice performers: 240 male and female high school students were assigned to two motor-mental PPR, and one control condition. Findings revealed that PPR enhances motor performance and can be implemented at an early stage of learning.     

Patterns of interference in sequence learning and prism adaptation inconsistent with the consolidation hypothesis

The studies reported here used an interference paradigm to determine whether a long-term consolidation process (i.e., one lasting from several hours to days) occurs in the learning of two implicit motor skills, learning of a movement sequence and learning of a visuo-motor mapping. Subjects learned one skill and were tested on that skill 48 h later. Between the learning session and test session, some subjects trained on a second skill. The amount of time between the learning of the two skills varied for different subjects. In both the learning of a movement sequence and the learning of a visuo-motor mapping, we found that remote memories were susceptible to interference, but the passage of time did not afford protection from interference. These results are inconsistent with the long-term consolidation of these motor skills. A possible difference between these tasks and those that do show long-term consolidation is that the present tasks are not dynamic motor skills.     

Keeping an eye on the violinist: motor experts show superior timing consistency in a visual perception task

Common coding theory states that perception and action may reciprocally induce each other. Consequently, motor expertise should map onto perceptual consistency in specific tasks such as predicting the exact timing of a musical entry. To test this hypothesis, ten string musicians (motor experts), ten non-string musicians (visual experts), and ten non-musicians were asked to watch progressively occluded video recordings of a first violinist indicating entries to fellow members of a string quartet. Participants synchronised with the perceived timing of the musical entries. Results revealed significant effects of motor expertise on perception. Compared to visual experts and non-musicians, string players not only responded more accurately, but also with less timing variability. These findings provide evidence that motor experts’ consistency in movement execution—a key characteristic of expert motor performance—is mirrored in lower variability in perceptual judgements, indicating close links between action competence and perception.     

Effect of Presentation Format and Expertise on Attacking-Drill Memorization in Soccer

This study investigates the effects of expertise and presentation format on memorization processes in 24 expert and 24 novice soccer players, using a 2 × 3 factorial design with factors expertise (novice vs. expert) and presentation format (static vs. dynamic vs. combined). Players completed a recall reconstruction test and rated their invested mental effort after studying a static, dynamic and combined format presentation. Results indicated (a) that novices benefited more from the static than dynamic format, while expert players benefited more from the dynamic than static format; and (b) a negative effect of the combined format on the learning process of the two groups. Findings suggest the need to adapt the presentation format to players with different levels of expertise.     

Differences in decision-making development between expert and novice invasion game players

This cross-sectional study investigated the differences between young expert soccer players' (n = 55) and novice players' (n = 74) decision-making ability during performance of invasion games (ages: 7-8, 9-10, 11-12, and 13-14 years). Decision-making ability was assessed in invasion games that were appropriately modified for age and expertise. Games were modified to meet the developmental needs and previous learning of the participants, so interference between motor execution and decision making was minimized. Game performance was videotaped, and measures of cognitive components were developed from observational analysis. Decision making was measured at two levels: (a) decision making restricted to the selection of the technical-tactical skills (passing, moving with the ball, getting free, marking, tackling, double teaming, and interception) and (b) decision making in the adaptation to the tactical context of the game. Expert players remained superior in decision-making ability when variation in skill execution was controlled. Decision-making differences between levels of expertise decreased with age with regard to the first level (skill selection) and increased with age in relation to the second level (tactical-context adaptation). Findings are discussed in terms of implications for instructional focus and task design.     

The transition to increased automaticity during finger sequence learning in adult males who stutter

The present study compared the automaticity levels of persons who stutter (PWS) and persons who do not stutter (PNS) on a practiced finger sequencing task under dual task conditions. Automaticity was defined as the amount of attention required for task performance. Twelve PWS and 12 control subjects practiced finger tapping sequences under single and then dual task conditions. Control subjects performed the sequencing task significantly faster and less variably under single versus dual task conditions while PWS' performance was consistently slow and variable (comparable to the dual task performance of control subjects) under both conditions. Control subjects were significantly more accurate on a colour recognition distracter task than PWS under dual task conditions. These results suggested that control subjects transitioned to quick, accurate and increasingly automatic performance on the sequencing task after practice, while PWS did not. Because most stuttering treatment programs for adults include practice and automatization of new motor speech skills, findings of this finger sequencing study and future studies of speech sequence learning may have important implications for how to maximize stuttering treatment effectiveness. Educational objectives: As a result of this activity, the participant will be able to: (1) Define automaticity and explain the importance of dual task paradigms to investigate automaticity; (2) Relate the proposed relationship between motor learning and automaticity as stated by the authors; (3) Summarize the reviewed literature concerning the performance of PWS on dual tasks; and (4) Explain why the ability to transition to automaticity during motor learning may have important clinical implications for stuttering treatment effectiveness.     

Expertise in women's gymnastic judging: an observational approach

Observation was used to study expertise in gymnastic judging. 10 expert and 10 novice gymnastic judges were videotaped while judging at actual competitions. Analyses showed that novice judges, as compared to expert judges, spent less time looking at the gymnast perform, spent more time looking at the scoring paper, and were less able to engage in the dual-task demands required in gymnastic judging.     

Visual–perceptual and cognitive differences between expert,intermediate, and novice snooker players

The performance of seven expert, seven intermediate, and 15 novice snooker players was compared on a range of general visual tests and sport-specific perceptual and cognitive tests in an attempt to determine the locus of the expert advantage. No significant expert-novice differences were apparent on standard optometric tests of acuity, ocular muscle balance, colour vision, and depth perception, nor on the relative frequency of unilateral and cros-lateral eye-hand dominances. Experts, however, were found to be superior in their ability to both recall and recognize rapidly-presented slides depicting normal game situations, but were no better than novices in recalling information from slides in which the balls were arranged randomly on the table. The expert group's superiority on the perceptual recall and recognition tasks was consistent with a deeper level of encoding for structured (meaningful) material. Experts were also shown, through the use of thinking-aloud and evaluation paradigms, to use a greater depth of forward planning in choosing appropriate shot options and to evaluate existing situations with greater accuracy, discriminability, and prospective planing than did novices. The cognitive advantage is shown to be a potential contributor but not a total explanation of the superior performance of the experts on the perceptual tasks. The findings of this study are consistent with existing works on expertise in board games and ‘open’ skill sports in indicating that the expert's advantage is not a general but a specific one, arising not from physical capacities but from acquired processing strategies.     

Strategy Shifts and Expertise in Solving Transformation Rule Problems

The acquisition of expertise in formal problem solving has been assumed to involve either a shift from backwards to forwards inference, or a shift from unguided to guided forwards inference. In a longitudinal study, the acquisition of formal problem-solving expertise was investigated. Participants were tested as novices before undertaking controlled practice in the problem domain which involved transformation rule problems, and were finally tested as experts. The direction of inference in problem solutions was found to be inadequate to describe the strategic differences between novices and experts. Therefore, a new solution coding system was applied, based on atomic components of problem solution. Analysis of novice and expert solutions revealed no systematic strategy in the novice stage—solutions were confused and contained unproductive steps and backtracking. Several strategies were found in the expert solutions, but they did not agree with previously reported results. It was therefore proposed that the acquisition of expertise does not involve a change from one specific solution strategy to another, but rather the development of an efficient strategy, which can differ between participants.