= Expertise
<Expertise> is reliably superior performance in a particular domain of activity, acquired through substantial <learning> and practice. It involves effective recognition and use of task-relevant structure, rather than simply knowing many disconnected facts or being good at every unfamiliar task.
A classic experiment asked chess players of different strengths to reconstruct positions after a five-second view. Skilled players performed much better for meaningful game positions; the advantage greatly diminished when the same pieces were arranged randomly. <William G. Chase> and <Herbert A. Simon> interpreted reconstruction patterns in terms of learned groups of related pieces.<Perception in chess by William G. Chase and Herbert A. Simon>[1973, pp. 55–56 and reconstruction experiments: meaningful versus random positions]{ref}
The contrast is illuminating because the number of visible pieces need not change. What changes is whether prior <learning> supplies useful structure. Measuring <expertise> therefore requires specifying the task and the conditions under which an advantage is demonstrated.
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