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The Challenge What Experts Do
Science of Badass Building Skills Perceptual Exposure
Chick sexing is not the only example of being expert
at something without knowing how you do it
Another example is the friend-or-foe aircraft “spotters” in
World War II England. A few civilians were somehow able to
instantly distinguish a German plane (on a bombing mission)
from a British plane returning home. The British government,
desperate for spotters, asked expert spotters to train others.
Neuroscientist David Eagleman describes what happened:
“It was a grim attempt. The spotters tried to explain their strategies
but failed. No one got it, not even the spotters themselves. Like the
chicken sexers, the spotters had little idea how they did what they
did–they simply saw the right answer.
With a little ingenuity, the British nally gured out how to
successfully train new spotters: by trial-and-error feedback. A novice
would hazard a guess and an expert would say yes or no. Eventually
the novices became, like their mentors, vessels of the mysterious,
ineffable expertise.”
“Incognito: the Secret Lives of the Brain”
by Neuroscientist David Eagleman
(recommended)