Social learning of complex skills and the acquisition of expertise.
Abstract
Complex skills are a hallmark of human culture that drive societal and economic development. Across domains as varied as healthcare, manufacturing, scientific research, and leisurely pursuits such as arts or sports, expertise is a valuable commodity. Becoming an expert requires substantial investment of time and resources to acquire, but it reaps great benefits not only for experts themselves but for society at large. Despite this, the mechanisms by which expertise is transmitted from one generation to the next remain poorly understood. Experts must learn their craft from other experts, a process known as social learning, but existing scientific models of social learning typically focus on the transmission of simple actions or action sequences, falling short of explaining how complex skills are learned from and taught to others. I will present my line of empirical and theoretical work, outlining a new approach to social learning that is informed by cognitive science research into motor cognition and social interaction. I will show how this psychologically informed, mechanistic understanding of social learning can help to identify the cognitive and behavioural mechanisms that support the intergenerational transmission of expertise, which can inform future educational interventions.
