Using the ‘Expert Performance Approach’ as a Framework for Examining and Enhancing Skill Learning: Improving Understanding of How Experts Learn
Main Article Content
Abstract
The expert performance approach is reviewed as a systematic framework for the study of expertise. Its potential as a framework for the study of how experts learn is presented. The need to develop representative tasks to capture learning is discussed, as is the need to employ process-tracing measures during acquisition to examine what actually changes during learning and to use realistic retention and transfer tests. A focus on individual differences in learning within groups of expert performers is recommended in order to identify characteristics of more efficient and effective learning. The identification and study of how experts learn will enhance our understanding of skill acquisition and how this may be promoted using instructional interventions and practice opportunities. The challenge for scientists is to generate knowledge that helps those involved in facilitating skill acquisition continue to help experts acquire and refine skills across professional domains.
Article Details
How to Cite
Williams, A. M., Fawver, B., & Hodges, N. J. (2017). Using the ‘Expert Performance Approach’ as a Framework for Examining and Enhancing Skill Learning: Improving Understanding of How Experts Learn. Frontline Learning Research, 5(3), 139–154. https://doi.org/10.14786/flr.v5i3.267
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References
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Abernethy, B., & Zawi, K. (2007). Pickup of essential kinematics underpins expert perception of movement patterns. Journal of Motor Behavior, 39, 353-367.
Ackerman, P. L. (1987). Individual differences in skill learning: An integration of psychometric and information processing perspectives. Psychological bulletin, 102, 1, 3.
Alder, D., Ford, P. R. Causer, J., & Williams, A. M., (2016). The effects of high- and low-anxiety training on the anticipation judgements of elite performers. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 38, 93-104.
Balser, N., Lorey, B., Pilgramm, S., Stark, R., Bischoff, M., Zentgraf, K., Williams, A. M., & Munzert, J. (2014) Prediction of human actions: expertise and task-related effects on neural activation of the action observation network. Human Brain Mapping, 35, 4016-4034.
Bezzola, L., Merillat, S., Gaser, C., & Jancke, L. (2011). Training-induced neural plasticity in golf novices. The Journal of Neuroscience, 31, 35, 12444-12448.
Breslin, G., Hodges, N.J., Williams, A.M., Kremmer, J. & Curren W. (2006). The role of intra- and inter- limb relative motion information in modeling a novel motor skill. Human Movement Science, 25, 6, 753-752.
Broadbent, D. P., Causer, J., Ford, P. R., & Williams, A. M. (2015). Contextual interference effect on perceptual-cognitive skills training. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 47, 6, 1243-1250.
Broadbent, D. P., Causer, J., Williams, A. M., & Ford, P. R. (2015). Perceptual-cognitive skill training and its transfer to expert performance in the field: Future research directions. European Journal of Sport Science, 15, 322-331.
Broadbent, D. P., Causer, J., Williams, A. M., & Ford, P. R. (in press). The role of cognitive effort and error processing in the contextual interference effect during perceptual-cognitive skills training. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance.
Causer, J., Holmes, P.S., & Williams, A.M. (2011). Quiet eye training in elite performers. Medicine & Science in Sport & Exercise, 43, 1042-1049.
Coughlan, E., Williams, A.M., McRobert, & Ford., P. (2014) A novel test of deliberate practice theory: how experts learn. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory & Cognition, 40, 449-458.
Davids, K., Bennett, S.J., & Newell, K.M. (2006). Movement system variability. Human Kinetics: Champaign, Illinois.
Ericsson, K. A., & Kintsch, W. (1995). Long-term working memory. Psychological Review, 102, 211-245
Ericsson, K. A., & Smith, J. (1991). Prospects and limits of the empirical study of expertise: An introduction. In K. A. Ericsson & J. Smith (Eds.), Towards a General Theory of Expertise: Prospects and Limits (pp. 1-38). New York: Cambridge University Press.
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, 3, 115.
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.
Ericsson, K. A., Hoffman, R., Aaron, K. and Williams, A. M. (in press) (Ed.) The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise (Second Edition). Cambridge University Press.
Ford, P. R., & Williams, A. M. (2012). The developmental activities engaged in by elite youth soccer players who progressed to professional status compared to those who did not. Psychology of Sport & Exercise, 13, 349–352.
Ford, P. R., Hodges, N. J., &Williams, A. M. (2013). Expert sports performance and its development. In Beyond “talent or practice?”: The multiple Determinants of Greatness (edited by B. Kaufman), 391-414. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ford, P. R., Carling, C., Garces, M., Marques, M., Miguel, C., Farrant, A., & Williams, A.M. (2012). The developmental activities of elite soccer players aged under-16 years from Brazil, England, France, Ghana, Mexico, Portugal and Sweden. Journal of Sports Sciences, 30, 1653-1663.
Hambrick, D. Z., Altmann, E. M., Oswald, F. L., Meinz, E. J., & Gobet, F. (2014). Facing facts about deliberate practice. Frontiers in Psychology, doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00751.
Hardwick, R. M., Rottschy, C., Miall, R. C., & Eickhoff, S. B. (2013). A quantitative meta-analysis and review of motor learning in the human brain. Neuroimage, 67, 283-297.
Hodges, N. J., Edwards, C., Luttin, S., & Bowcock, A. (2011). Learning from the experts: gaining insights into best practice during the acquisition of three novel motor skills. Research Quarterly for Exercise & Sport, 82, 178-187.
Hodges, N. J., & Williams, A. M. (2012). Skill Acquisition in Sport: Research, Theory and Practice (Second Edition). Routledge: London.
Hodges, N. J., Edwards, C., Luttin, S., & Bowcock, A. (2011). Learning from the experts: gaining insights into best practice during the acquisition of three novel motor skills. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 82(2), 178-187.
Kennedy, Q., Taylor, J. L., Reade, G., & Yesavage, M. D. (2010). Age and expertise effects in aviation decision making and flight control in a flight simulator. Aviation, Space and Environmental Medicine, 81, 489-497.
Lohse, K. R., Wadden, K., Boyd, L. A., & Hodges, N. J. (2014). Motor skill acquisition across short and long time scales: a meta-analysis of neuroimaging data. Neuropsychologia, 59, 130-141.
McNamara., B. N., Hambrick, D. Z., & Oswald, F. C. (2014). Deliberate practice and performance in music, games, sports, education, and professions: A meta-analysis. Psychological Science, 25, 1608-1618.
McRobert, A., Causer, J., Vasiliadus, J., Watterson, L., & Williams, A. M. (2013). Contextual information influences diagnosis accuracy and decision-making in simulated emergency medicine emergencies. British Medical Journal: Quality & Safety, 22, 478-484.
Mulligan, D., Lohse, K. R., & Hodges, N. J. (2016). An action-incongruent secondary task modulates
prediction accuracy in experienced performers: evidence for motor simulation. Psychological Research,
80, 496-509.
North, J. S., Ward, P., Ericsson, A., & Williams, A. M. (2011). Mechanisms underlying skilled anticipation and recognition in a dynamic and temporally constrained domain. Memory, 19, 2, 155-168.
Roca, A., Ford, P. R., McRobert, A. P., & Williams, A. M. (2013). Perceptual-cognitive skills and their interaction as a function of task constraints in soccer. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 35, 144-155.
Ryu, D., Kim., S., Abernethy, B., & Mann, D. L. (2012). Guiding attention aids the acquisition of anticipatory skill in novice soccer goalkeepers. Research Quarterly for Exercise & Sport, 84, 252-262.
Schmidt, R., & Lee, T. (2013). Motor Learning and Performance, 5th Edition: from principles to application. Champaign, Il: Human Kinetics.
Smeeton, N. J., & Williams, A. M. (2012). The role of movement exaggeration in the anticipation of deceptive soccer penalty kicks. British Journal of Psychology, 103, 539-555.
Smeeton, N. J., Williams, A. M., Hodges, N. J., & Ward, P. (2005). The relative effectiveness of various instructional approaches in developing anticipation skill. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 11, 98–110.
Smeeton, N. J., Hibbert, J. R., Stevenson, K., Cumming, J., & Williams, A. M. (2013). Can imagery facilitate improvements in anticipation behavior? Psychology of Sport & Exercise, 14, 200-210
Stal, P., Donmez., B., & Jamieson, G. A. (2016). Supporting anticipation in driving through attentional and interpretational in-vehicle displays. Accident, Analysis and Prevention, 91, 103-113.
Vater, C., Roca, A., & Williams, A. M. (2015). Effects of anxiety on anticipation and visual
search in dynamic, time-constrained situations. Sport, Exercise, & Performance
Psychology. Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/spy0000056
Voss, M. W., Kramer, A. F., Basak, C., Prakash, R. S., & Roberts, B. (2010). Are expert athletes ‘expert’ in the cognitive laboratory? A meta‐analytic review of cognition and sport expertise. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 24(6), 812-826.
Ward, P., & Williams, A.M. (2003). Perceptual and cognitive skill development in soccer: the
multidimensional nature of expert performance. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology,
25, 1, 93-111.
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, 3, 231-254.
Ward, P., Hodges, N.J., Williams, A.M., & Starkes, J. (2007) The role of deliberate practice in the development of expert performers. High Ability Studies, 18, 119-153.
Wright, M. J., Bishop, D., Jackson, R. C., & Abernerthy, B. (2010). Functional MRI reveals expert-novioce differences during sport-related anticipation. NeuroReport, 21, 94-98.
Wright, M. J., Bishop, D., Jackson, R. C., & Abernethy, B. (2011) Cortical fMRI activation to opponents’ body kinematics in sport-related anticipation: Expert-novice differences with normal and point-light video. Neuroscience Letters, 500, 3, 216-221.
Williams, A. M., & Abernethy, B. (2012). Anticipation and decision-making: Skills, methods and measures. In G. Tenenbaum, R. C. Eklund & A. Kamata (Eds.), Measurement in Sport & Exercise Psychology. (pp. 191-202), Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Williams, A. M., & Ericsson, K. A. (2005). Perceptual-cognitive expertise in sport: Some considerations when applying the expert performance approach. Human Movement Science, 24, 3, 283-307.
Williams, A.M., Ward, P., & Chapman, C. (2003). Training perceptual skill in field hockey: Is there transfer from the laboratory to the field? Research Quarterly for Exercise & Sport, 74, 98-104.
Williams, A. M., Ford, P. R., Eccles, D. W., & Ward, P. (2011). Perceptual-cognitive expertise in sport and its acquisition: Implications for applied cognitive psychology. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 25(3), 432-442.
Williams, A. M., North, J. S., & Hope, E. R. (2012). Identifying the mechanisms underpinning recognition of structured sequences of action. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 65(10), 1975-1992.
Williams, A. M., Ward, P., Knowles, J. M., & Smeeton, N. J. (2002). Anticipation skill in a real-world task: Measurement, training, and transfer in tennis. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 8, 259–270.
Wulf, G., Shea, C., & Lewthwaite, R. (2010). Motor skill learning and performance: a review of influential factors. Medical education, 44(1), 75-84.
Abernethy, B., & Zawi, K. (2007). Pickup of essential kinematics underpins expert perception of movement patterns. Journal of Motor Behavior, 39, 353-367.
Ackerman, P. L. (1987). Individual differences in skill learning: An integration of psychometric and information processing perspectives. Psychological bulletin, 102, 1, 3.
Alder, D., Ford, P. R. Causer, J., & Williams, A. M., (2016). The effects of high- and low-anxiety training on the anticipation judgements of elite performers. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 38, 93-104.
Balser, N., Lorey, B., Pilgramm, S., Stark, R., Bischoff, M., Zentgraf, K., Williams, A. M., & Munzert, J. (2014) Prediction of human actions: expertise and task-related effects on neural activation of the action observation network. Human Brain Mapping, 35, 4016-4034.
Bezzola, L., Merillat, S., Gaser, C., & Jancke, L. (2011). Training-induced neural plasticity in golf novices. The Journal of Neuroscience, 31, 35, 12444-12448.
Breslin, G., Hodges, N.J., Williams, A.M., Kremmer, J. & Curren W. (2006). The role of intra- and inter- limb relative motion information in modeling a novel motor skill. Human Movement Science, 25, 6, 753-752.
Broadbent, D. P., Causer, J., Ford, P. R., & Williams, A. M. (2015). Contextual interference effect on perceptual-cognitive skills training. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 47, 6, 1243-1250.
Broadbent, D. P., Causer, J., Williams, A. M., & Ford, P. R. (2015). Perceptual-cognitive skill training and its transfer to expert performance in the field: Future research directions. European Journal of Sport Science, 15, 322-331.
Broadbent, D. P., Causer, J., Williams, A. M., & Ford, P. R. (in press). The role of cognitive effort and error processing in the contextual interference effect during perceptual-cognitive skills training. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance.
Causer, J., Holmes, P.S., & Williams, A.M. (2011). Quiet eye training in elite performers. Medicine & Science in Sport & Exercise, 43, 1042-1049.
Coughlan, E., Williams, A.M., McRobert, & Ford., P. (2014) A novel test of deliberate practice theory: how experts learn. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory & Cognition, 40, 449-458.
Davids, K., Bennett, S.J., & Newell, K.M. (2006). Movement system variability. Human Kinetics: Champaign, Illinois.
Ericsson, K. A., & Kintsch, W. (1995). Long-term working memory. Psychological Review, 102, 211-245
Ericsson, K. A., & Smith, J. (1991). Prospects and limits of the empirical study of expertise: An introduction. In K. A. Ericsson & J. Smith (Eds.), Towards a General Theory of Expertise: Prospects and Limits (pp. 1-38). New York: Cambridge University Press.
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, 3, 115.
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.
Ericsson, K. A., Hoffman, R., Aaron, K. and Williams, A. M. (in press) (Ed.) The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise (Second Edition). Cambridge University Press.
Ford, P. R., & Williams, A. M. (2012). The developmental activities engaged in by elite youth soccer players who progressed to professional status compared to those who did not. Psychology of Sport & Exercise, 13, 349–352.
Ford, P. R., Hodges, N. J., &Williams, A. M. (2013). Expert sports performance and its development. In Beyond “talent or practice?”: The multiple Determinants of Greatness (edited by B. Kaufman), 391-414. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ford, P. R., Carling, C., Garces, M., Marques, M., Miguel, C., Farrant, A., & Williams, A.M. (2012). The developmental activities of elite soccer players aged under-16 years from Brazil, England, France, Ghana, Mexico, Portugal and Sweden. Journal of Sports Sciences, 30, 1653-1663.
Hambrick, D. Z., Altmann, E. M., Oswald, F. L., Meinz, E. J., & Gobet, F. (2014). Facing facts about deliberate practice. Frontiers in Psychology, doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00751.
Hardwick, R. M., Rottschy, C., Miall, R. C., & Eickhoff, S. B. (2013). A quantitative meta-analysis and review of motor learning in the human brain. Neuroimage, 67, 283-297.
Hodges, N. J., Edwards, C., Luttin, S., & Bowcock, A. (2011). Learning from the experts: gaining insights into best practice during the acquisition of three novel motor skills. Research Quarterly for Exercise & Sport, 82, 178-187.
Hodges, N. J., & Williams, A. M. (2012). Skill Acquisition in Sport: Research, Theory and Practice (Second Edition). Routledge: London.
Hodges, N. J., Edwards, C., Luttin, S., & Bowcock, A. (2011). Learning from the experts: gaining insights into best practice during the acquisition of three novel motor skills. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 82(2), 178-187.
Kennedy, Q., Taylor, J. L., Reade, G., & Yesavage, M. D. (2010). Age and expertise effects in aviation decision making and flight control in a flight simulator. Aviation, Space and Environmental Medicine, 81, 489-497.
Lohse, K. R., Wadden, K., Boyd, L. A., & Hodges, N. J. (2014). Motor skill acquisition across short and long time scales: a meta-analysis of neuroimaging data. Neuropsychologia, 59, 130-141.
McNamara., B. N., Hambrick, D. Z., & Oswald, F. C. (2014). Deliberate practice and performance in music, games, sports, education, and professions: A meta-analysis. Psychological Science, 25, 1608-1618.
McRobert, A., Causer, J., Vasiliadus, J., Watterson, L., & Williams, A. M. (2013). Contextual information influences diagnosis accuracy and decision-making in simulated emergency medicine emergencies. British Medical Journal: Quality & Safety, 22, 478-484.
Mulligan, D., Lohse, K. R., & Hodges, N. J. (2016). An action-incongruent secondary task modulates
prediction accuracy in experienced performers: evidence for motor simulation. Psychological Research,
80, 496-509.
North, J. S., Ward, P., Ericsson, A., & Williams, A. M. (2011). Mechanisms underlying skilled anticipation and recognition in a dynamic and temporally constrained domain. Memory, 19, 2, 155-168.
Roca, A., Ford, P. R., McRobert, A. P., & Williams, A. M. (2013). Perceptual-cognitive skills and their interaction as a function of task constraints in soccer. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 35, 144-155.
Ryu, D., Kim., S., Abernethy, B., & Mann, D. L. (2012). Guiding attention aids the acquisition of anticipatory skill in novice soccer goalkeepers. Research Quarterly for Exercise & Sport, 84, 252-262.
Schmidt, R., & Lee, T. (2013). Motor Learning and Performance, 5th Edition: from principles to application. Champaign, Il: Human Kinetics.
Smeeton, N. J., & Williams, A. M. (2012). The role of movement exaggeration in the anticipation of deceptive soccer penalty kicks. British Journal of Psychology, 103, 539-555.
Smeeton, N. J., Williams, A. M., Hodges, N. J., & Ward, P. (2005). The relative effectiveness of various instructional approaches in developing anticipation skill. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 11, 98–110.
Smeeton, N. J., Hibbert, J. R., Stevenson, K., Cumming, J., & Williams, A. M. (2013). Can imagery facilitate improvements in anticipation behavior? Psychology of Sport & Exercise, 14, 200-210
Stal, P., Donmez., B., & Jamieson, G. A. (2016). Supporting anticipation in driving through attentional and interpretational in-vehicle displays. Accident, Analysis and Prevention, 91, 103-113.
Vater, C., Roca, A., & Williams, A. M. (2015). Effects of anxiety on anticipation and visual
search in dynamic, time-constrained situations. Sport, Exercise, & Performance
Psychology. Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/spy0000056
Voss, M. W., Kramer, A. F., Basak, C., Prakash, R. S., & Roberts, B. (2010). Are expert athletes ‘expert’ in the cognitive laboratory? A meta‐analytic review of cognition and sport expertise. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 24(6), 812-826.
Ward, P., & Williams, A.M. (2003). Perceptual and cognitive skill development in soccer: the
multidimensional nature of expert performance. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology,
25, 1, 93-111.
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, 3, 231-254.
Ward, P., Hodges, N.J., Williams, A.M., & Starkes, J. (2007) The role of deliberate practice in the development of expert performers. High Ability Studies, 18, 119-153.
Wright, M. J., Bishop, D., Jackson, R. C., & Abernerthy, B. (2010). Functional MRI reveals expert-novioce differences during sport-related anticipation. NeuroReport, 21, 94-98.
Wright, M. J., Bishop, D., Jackson, R. C., & Abernethy, B. (2011) Cortical fMRI activation to opponents’ body kinematics in sport-related anticipation: Expert-novice differences with normal and point-light video. Neuroscience Letters, 500, 3, 216-221.
Williams, A. M., & Abernethy, B. (2012). Anticipation and decision-making: Skills, methods and measures. In G. Tenenbaum, R. C. Eklund & A. Kamata (Eds.), Measurement in Sport & Exercise Psychology. (pp. 191-202), Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Williams, A. M., & Ericsson, K. A. (2005). Perceptual-cognitive expertise in sport: Some considerations when applying the expert performance approach. Human Movement Science, 24, 3, 283-307.
Williams, A.M., Ward, P., & Chapman, C. (2003). Training perceptual skill in field hockey: Is there transfer from the laboratory to the field? Research Quarterly for Exercise & Sport, 74, 98-104.
Williams, A. M., Ford, P. R., Eccles, D. W., & Ward, P. (2011). Perceptual-cognitive expertise in sport and its acquisition: Implications for applied cognitive psychology. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 25(3), 432-442.
Williams, A. M., North, J. S., & Hope, E. R. (2012). Identifying the mechanisms underpinning recognition of structured sequences of action. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 65(10), 1975-1992.
Williams, A. M., Ward, P., Knowles, J. M., & Smeeton, N. J. (2002). Anticipation skill in a real-world task: Measurement, training, and transfer in tennis. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 8, 259–270.
Wulf, G., Shea, C., & Lewthwaite, R. (2010). Motor skill learning and performance: a review of influential factors. Medical education, 44(1), 75-84.