How Does Expertise Support Exceptional Learning?

The present study examined expert dancers’ ability to recreate choreography across varying lengths and genres to test how expertise interacts with structure, familiarity, and strategy use. Expert and novice dancers learned six choreographies that varied in length (50 vs. 100 steps) and in familiarity/structure (structured ballet, unstructured ballet, and hip-hop) across five study-recall cycles. Experts recalled significantly more steps than novices at both the initial and final tests for every choreography however, expert performance varied across dances. Expert recall was highest for structured ballet and declined as sequences became less structured and less familiar. Although experts consistently reported using more strategies than novices, reported strategy-use did not vary by length or genre, and no specific strategy reliably predicted better recall within experts. Instead, the expertise advantage was already pronounced at the initial test and remained a strong indicator of later performance, suggesting that a substantial portion of expert learning is established during the first exposure.

Author dc:creator

• R. Lane Adams (24399491)

• Expertise
• Memory
• Dance

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

DOI dc:identifier

https://doi.org/10.25417/uic.32993927.v1

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:figshare.com:article/32993927