On the embodiment of expert knowledge what makes an expert? /

by Holt, Lauren E.

ON THE EMBODIMENT OF EXPERT KNOWLEDGE: WHAT MAKES AN EXPERT? by Lauren E. Holt How do experts’ representations of knowledge differ from novices’? Traditional views suggest that knowledge is represented as a series of propositional codes. Experts’ extensive knowledge may simply result in more or stronger codes than novices. However, recent theories suggest knowledge is embodied: Understanding the world arises from previous experiences interacting with the world rather than from links in a semantic network. Thus, expertise may lead to fundamentally different representations of domain information, containing different traces of perceptual and motor information. Building on embodied theories, two experiments examined the type of knowledge supporting novice and expert performance. Experiment 1 asked whether domain knowledge is needed to form embodied representations in ice hockey. Experiment 2 asked whether active football experience, in addition to domain knowledge, is needed to form embodied representations of football-specific action. Results demonstrate that domain knowledge is required. Moreover, motor experience is necessary in forming embodied representations involving domain-specific actions.