On 2006-07-10 19:21, Bill Hallahan wrote:
This months Scientific American just arrived in the mail. The cover story is, "Secrets of the Expert Mind."

Three major subheadings exist in the article.

1. Much of the chess master's advantage over the novice derives from the first few seconds of thought.
   
   Subheading - Chunking Theory
   
   
2. The 10-year rule states that it takes approximately a decade of heavy labor to master any field.
   
   
3. The preponderance of psychological evidence indicates that experts are made, not born.
   
   That one surprised me.
   

The article mentions chess, music, and soccer, golf, etc. There is an interesting breakout titled, "Training trumps talent."

Here's one quotation:

Quote:

Teachers in sports, music, and other fields, tend to believe that talent matters, and that they know it when they see it. In fact, they appear to be confusing ability with precocity. There is usually no way to tell whether a young violinist's extraordinary performance stems from innate ability or Suzuki-style training.

I'm skeptical. I would think teachers can factor experience out, after all they see many students. Also, I think if someone puts up with prolonged intensive training, they probably have talent already. But, perhaps it's true and there is hope for me!

On 2006-07-10 20:13, RandyStewart wrote:
Bill,

Regarding the school of thought stating:

"#3 The preponderance of psychological evidence indicates that experts are made, not born."

and your comment:

"I'm skeptical. I would think teachers can factor experience out, after all they see many students. Also, I think if someone puts up with prolonged intensive training, they probably have talent already. But, perhaps it's true and there is hope for me!"


You might of missed it but I had a topic "Amazing or Pushing up daisies" in which I stated my disappointed and desperate plea for good teachers to not give up on the rare occasion a serious student comes along. I don't know nor care what percentage of the "expert" comes with a newborn as much as I care that, when identified, it be further nurtured, developed and given a course to grow into by the "experienced". No matter how talented or promisig the student, an experienced teacher might make a difference the student could not. I'm convinced of this as it's happened to me.

As for your comment, "But, perhaps it's true and there is hope for me!", you have my vote Bill. To date, I have no reason to doubt and do offer it with confidence.