ABSTRACT

The third topic is expertise. There are overlaps between expertise and problem solving, in that experts are very effi cient at solving numerous problems in their area of expertise. However, there are also some important differences. First, most traditional research on problem solving involved problems requiring no special training or knowledge for their solution. In contrast, studies on expertise have typically involved problems requiring considerable knowledge. Second, there is more focus on individual differences in research on expertise than in research on problem solving. Indeed, a central issue in expertise research is to identify the main differences (e.g., in knowledge; in strategic processing) between experts and novices.