Chapter 7 The Relationship between Expertise and Visual Information Processing in Sport

This chapter explains the differences between experts and nonexperts in processing the acquired visual information by means of more cognitive, “software” dimensions. It is shown that expertise in more cognitive domains, such as chess or the solving of mathematical problems, is based on the acquisition of, the rapid access to, and the efficient use of semantically rich and, therefore, complicated networks of domain-specific declarative and procedural knowledge. From this theoretical background, the question is posed whether experts in a particular sport discipline differ from nonexperts in the amount and the type of knowledge they possess and in the way the information is processed. These studies have attempted to compare the knowledge base of experts and nonexperts within particular skill domains. To obtain better insight into problem-solving skills and processes in the acquisition of expertise in a sport discipline, a conceptual framework is sketched based on research on the acquisition of expertise in explicitly cognitive problem-solving tasks, such as chess or the solving of mathematical problems. The results of the sport-specific tasks provide insight into the knowledge structure of players with differing experiential background and how changes occur as a result of increasing expertise. Both the construction of declarative knowledge and the ability to “compile” and “tuning” are considered as “software” attributes. They can be studied by means of the indirect and direct paradigms and research techniques.