ABSTRACT
Skill acquisition is usually characterized as going through three stages: a cognitive stage,
an associative stage and an autonomous stage (Fitts, 1964). The three stages can be
characterized by moving from conscious, slow and error-prone to unconscious, fast and
error-free. Anderson (1982) explains these three stages in terms of a transition from
declarative knowledge to procedural knowledge. In the cognitive stage knowledge is
declarative and needs to be interpreted. Inter-preting knowledge is slow, and may lead to
errors if the relevant knowledge cannot be retrieved at the right time. Procedural
knowledge on the other hand is compiled and therefore fast and free of errors, and can be
associated with the autonomous stage. The associate stage is an in-between stage, during
which part of the knowledge is declarative and another part compiled.
