Understanding Expertise

Understanding Expertise is beyond doubt the most comprehensive single-authored book devoted to how expertise permeates human performance in a diversity of domains. It has the breadth of an edited handbook, but with the added asset of a coherent point of view.' - Professor Dean Keith Simonton, University of California, Davis, USA 'Fernand Gobet, who is well-known as one of the world's leading authorities on expertise, has produced an excellent overview of the area in this book. Of special note is the impressive way he has integrated ideas and research from the fields of psychology, neuroscience, sociology, artificial intelligence and philosophy.' - Professor Michael Eysenck, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK 'Fernand Gobet has been studying expertise for decades. And it is fascinating to read a book that attempts to synthesize all that expertise on expertise, not just within his own field of psychology, but across multiple disciplines, including neuroscience, sociology, artificial intelligence, and philosophy.If only more researchers were willing to take this truly multi-disciplinary and open approach to science, science would, I believe, be much better for it.' - Dr Jonathan Wai, Duke University, USA

What makes an expert? What strategies do they use? If you're an expert in one domain, are you more likely to become an expert in a second? In examining questions like these, Professor Fernand Gobet provides a comprehensive overview of the field of expertise. With research from a wide range of disciplines, including psychology, neuroscience, sociology, philosophy, education, law and artificial intelligence, this is the definitive guide to the subject. Understanding Expertise: A Multidisciplinary Approach - Considers expertise on a number of levels ranging from the neural to the psychological and the social; - Critically evaluates current theories and approaches; - Addresses issues of key importance for society, with implications for training methods and the development of artificial expert systems.