Abstract
Although exceptional performance is a defining attribute of expertise, experts sometimes exhibit striking errors and performance limitations. This article reports two experiments in which experts predicted the spread of bush fires, a domain characterized by complex but well-understood physical dynamics. Although accuracy was typically high, large errors were observed when two primary predictor variables were in opposition. In a second study, the experts’ behavior—in contrast to that of novices—was additionally shown to depend on problem context. In one context, experts again committed errors, whereas in another, equally domain-relevant context, the correct predictions were made. Critically, when comparing performance across contexts, completely opposing predictions were made under identical physical conditions. We therefore suggest that expertise may comprise separate, and sometimes even mutually exclusive, components of knowledge.
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Preparation of this article was facilitated by Large Research Grant A79600016 from the Australian Research Council to the first author and by Industrial Collaborative Grant AM9280018 from the Australian Research Council to K.K., John Dunn, David Morrison, and C. P. Tsang, held jointly with Australian Defence Industries Ltd., Perth. This article was completed while the first author held a position as a Visiting Professor at the University of Potsdam, Germany, financed by funds from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation; Grant INK 12/A1, Project C).
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Lewandowsky, S., Kirsner, K. Knowledge partitioning: Context-dependent use of expertise. Memory & Cognition 28, 295–305 (2000). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03213807
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03213807