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The Anatomy of an Expert

The science of skill and success

Memory
Understanding The Underpinnings of Expert Performance

Zach Hambrick Ph.D. on February 21, 2014

Who becomes an expert in music, business, sports, and business? Training is part of the story, but not the whole story. Working memory—a basic cognitive capacity—may also play a role.

Who becomes an expert in music, business, sports, and business? Training is part of the story, but not the whole story. Working memory—a basic cognitive capacity—may also play a role.

Genetics
The Making of an Olympian

Zach Hambrick Ph.D. on October 18, 2013

Forty-five years ago today, at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, Bob Beamon won the gold medal in the long jump with a belief-defying jump of twenty-nine feet, two-and-one-quarter inches, breaking the world record by nearly two feet. How did Beamon jump so far? The making of an Olympian...

Forty-five years ago today, at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, Bob Beamon won the gold medal in the long jump with a belief-defying jump of twenty-nine feet, two-and-one-quarter inches, breaking the world record by nearly two feet. How did Beamon jump so far? The making of an Olympian...

Environment
The Nature and Nurture of Expertise

Zach Hambrick Ph.D. on July 19, 2013

More than a century of research has made it clear that some form of training is necessary to become an expert, and no scientist working in this area of research believes otherwise. There are no strict hereditarians. There are, however, still a few scholars who believe that it may be possible to completely explain individual differences in terms of training history.

More than a century of research has made it clear that some form of training is necessary to become an expert, and no scientist working in this area of research believes otherwise. There are no strict hereditarians. There are, however, still a few scholars who believe that it may be possible to completely explain individual differences in terms of training history.

Genetics
The Expert Performance Puzzle

Zach Hambrick Ph.D. on June 8, 2013

Training is necessary to become an expert at any complex task—playing a musical instrument, hitting a golf ball, writing a computer program, flying an airplane, and so on. You have to practice to become an expert. But is that all there is to expert performance? The scientific evidence says no.

Training is necessary to become an expert at any complex task—playing a musical instrument, hitting a golf ball, writing a computer program, flying an airplane, and so on. You have to practice to become an expert. But is that all there is to expert performance? The scientific evidence says no.