Töfratalan 13+/-0 : sérfræðingar í bridge og leikmenn

Abstract

Research in psychology has shown that there can be considerable differences in the cognitive processing of experts and novices. Our research addressed the question of what can explain these differences. We compared the response time of nine experts in bridge and 18 novices when summing up numbers and doing other related tasks. In addition, memory-based retrieval was assessed with sorted and unsorted cards. It was hypothesized that (1) experts in bridge have shorter reaction time than novices due to differences in processing information, (2) the most difference between experts and novices in processing numbers will be related to the number "13" and (3) experts show exceptional performance with retrieval of sorted cards but not with unsorted cards. Support was found for all hypotheses. Results were interpreted in terms of the idea of chunking and skilled memory theory. The findings can be explained in terms of the experts having acquired much more knowledge in their field rather than any significant differences in short-term memory.