Expertise effects in memory recall: Comment on Vicente and Wang (1998).

Abstract

proposed a "constraint attunement hypothesis" to explain the large effects of domain expertise on memory recall observed in a number of task domains. They claimed to have found serious defects in alternative explanations of these effects, which their theory overcomes. Reexamination of the evidence shows that their theory is not novel but has been anticipated by those they criticized and that other current published theories of the phenomena do not have the defects that Vicente and Wang attributed to them. Vicente and Wang's views reflect underlying differences about (a) emphasis on performance versus process in psychology and (b) how theories and empirical knowledge interact and progress with the development of a science.Vicente and Wang (1998) used an ecological approach to explain the "significant correlation between domain expertise and memory recall performance after a very brief exposure time" (p. 33). They claimed that "this constraint attunement hypothesis[CAH] . .. predicts ... a memory expertise advantage in cases in which experts are attuned to the goal-relevant constraints in the material to be recalled and that the more constraint available, the greater the expertise advantage can be" (p. 33) and explains "several findings in the literature [that] have no satisfactory theoretical explanation" (p. 33). We claim that, on the contrary, these findings have already been explained by process theories and the memory advantage has long been understood in terms of its goal relevance.After summarizing Vicente and Wang's (1998) theoretical proposal, we address several errors in their account of past and current research on expertise. We then show why the 10 experiments that Vicente and Wang reviewed do not support CAH unless one adds to it a number of auxiliary assumptions and why they provide better support for the contemporary process theories criticized by Vicente and Wang. Process theories need not wait and have not waited for product theories such as CAH to clear the way for progress.

Effect of skill level on recall of visually presented patterns of musical notes

“…This could be done, for instance, by embedding musically well‐formed patterns of different length within random tone sequences. For example, this kind of research is needed to solve the controversies concerning what the mechanisms are that underlie how pre‐learned knowledge and skills in long‐term memory are used in the process of chunking incoming information (Ericsson et al , 2000; Simon & Gobet, 2000; Vicente, 2000; Vicente & Wang, 1998).…”

“…These include perception, memory and thinking, encoding and classification of information, and construction of mental representations. Although it is assumed that pre‐learned knowledge in long‐term memory (LTM) underlies expertise effects, there is disagreement about the specific mechanisms (Ericsson et al , 2000; Simon & Gobet, 2000; Vicente, 2000; Vicente & Wang, 1998).…”

The influence of domain knowledge on the functional capacity of working memory

“…Generally, models of skilled memory assert that expert memory excels as a function of the use of well-organized, meaningful knowledge structures in LTM that have been developed over time and though experience with domain-related material (Chase & Simon, 1973;Ericsson & Kintsch, 1995;Simon & Gobet, 2000). In their theory of LTWM, Ericsson and Kintsch have suggested that the benefits of these pre-existing knowledge structures can be extended to include improving WMC.…”

A Methodology for Developing Computational Implementations of Scientific Theories

“…It is generally accepted that computational models offer a number of valuable features, including: making all processes concrete, supporting the development of specific models, and hence enabling quantitative predictions to be derived from the theory [10,20,21]. More broadly, we can speak of an architecture as a computer program which supports development of a range of computational models, or simulations, within a wide-ranging theory.…”