ABSTRACT
The ability to anticipate future action requirements is an important facet of expert performance (Baker et al., 2003). Ward and Williams (2003) reported that tests of perceptual-cognitive skill could discriminate elite and sub-elite soccer players as young as nine years of age, suggesting that even from early development advanced perceptual and cognitive skills are essential requirements for expert performance. Ericsson and Kintsch (1995) proposed the ‘long-term working memory’ (LTWM) theory, claiming that expert performers are able to acquire memory skills to accommodate the increased demands of working memory. Participants acquire the skills needed to perform at an advanced level due to the development of domainspecific knowledge structures held in long-term memory that allow rapid access to information via relevant retrieval cues in short-term memory.
