Welcome back to the (more) regularly scheduled programming! This week, we take a deeper dive than usual into what (at least partially) makes up an expert. What are the differences between the novices and experts on the cognitive scale? How do we best go about developing our skills to become experts in our passions? And how to tap into the coveted benefits of expertise like the flow state, creativity, and high productivity? This one was really fun to look into, and there is certainly a lot more to learn about this topic! With that said, I tried to present the most actionable items I could find in the literature to best enhance your learning and development. Thanks for listening and stay curious!

Following are the citations for this episode:

Chunking and Template Theory:

Thought and Choice in Chess - Adriaan D. de Groot - Google Books
Perception in chess - ScienceDirect
Templates in Chess Memory: A Mechanism for Recalling Several Boards - ScienceDirect
Expertise in complex decision making: the role of search in chess 70 years after de Groot - PubMed
Chunks in expert memory: evidence for the magical number four ... or is it two? - PubMed
Classics in the History of Psychology -- Miller (1956)
Replication and Analysis of Ebbinghaus’ Forgetting Curve - PMC

Automaticity, Flow, and Creativity:

Brain Scans of Jazz Musicians Reveal How to Reach a Creative ‘Flow State’ | Scientific American
A Review on the Role of the Neuroscience of Flow States in the Modern World - PMC
How Brain Efficiency Facilitates Flow State Experiences | Psychology Today
Flow State Mastery: Minimizing Cognitive Friction - Liminary
Frontiers | A Scoping Review of Flow Research
Physiological assessment of the psychological flow state using wearable devices | Scientific Reports
EEG-based functional connectivity patterns during boredom in an educational context | Scientific Reports
Turning on Flow Means Turning Off Parts of the Brain
(PDF) Neural Mechanisms and Benefits of Flow: A Meta Analysis