ABSTRACT
It is generally understood that experience leads to improved performance, but that basic proposition begs more questions than it answers. The primary concerns in this chapter are with (a) describing the course of changes in performance quality as a function of experience/practice, and (b) explaining the processes that give rise to those performance improvements. With respect to the first of these, the “power law of practice” and the “ten-year rule” of skill acquisition are introduced. The accompanying explanatory account distinguishes “declarative” and “procedural” memory systems, and from this conceptual foundation identifies “cognitive,” “associative,” and “autonomous” stages in skill development. Practical implications of these complementary lines of analysis include insights about individual differences in skill acquisition, including the facts that people will vary in: (a) their initial levels of skill proficiency, (b) the rate at which they improve, and (c) their level of asymptotic performance.
