Expertise vs. talent

Abstract: The study of extraordinary performance has been carried out almost independently in two research traditions, the first emphasising practice and the second emphasising talent. The practice tradition has collected empirical evidence strongly supporting chunking as a key learning mechanism and practice as a prerequisite for becoming an expert. The talent tradition has provided convincing data for the importance of (inherited) individual differences in intelligence and working memory as well as for other factors such as starting age and handedness. If future research on extraordinary performance is to be successful, these two traditions must joint efforts to understand the mechanisms involved. Given the number of variables in play, their complex interactions and the fact that they evolve as a function of time, the use of computational modelling is necessary