Building Expertise: Cognitive Methods for Training and Performance Improvement

Chapter 4. The Psychology of Building Expertise

The great poem and the deep theorem are new to every reader, and yet are his own experiences, because he himself recreates them.

—JACOB BRONOWSKI

THIS CHAPTER LAYS THE FOUNDATION

for the chapters to follow by presenting an overview of what we know about psychological processes during learning. I will summarize the important features of two memories involved in learning: working memory and long-term memory, as well as five stages in the psychological events that transform training content into new knowledge and skills in memory. I will also summarize eight universal principles of instruction linked to those learning processes.

Two Memories for Learning

Learning requires the active transformation of content ...