Expert Performance:Its Structure and Acquisition

Science Watch

K. Anders Ericsson and Neil Chamess

August 1994 • American Psychologist
Vol. 49, No. 8, 725-747

Counter to the common belief that expert performance
reflects innate abilities and capacities, recent research in
different domains of expertise has shown that expert performance
is predominantly mediated by acquired complex
skills and physiological adaptations. For elite performers,
supervised practice starts at very young ages and is maintained
at high daily levels for more than a decade. The
effects of extended deliberate practice are more far-reaching
than is commonly believed. Performers can acquire
skills that circumvent basic limits on working memory
capacity and sequential processing. Deliberate practice
can also lead to anatomical changes resulting from adaptations
to intense physical activity. The study of expert
performance has important implications for our understanding
of the structure and limits of human adaptation
and optimal learning.