36 - Expertise and Situation Awareness

Summary

In thinking about expertise, we often focus on skilled physical performance (e.g., the world-class tennis player or gymnast) or skilled decision making (e.g., the chess grandmaster). In addition to these aspects of performance, however, situation awareness (SA), an up-to-date understanding of the world around them, forms a critical cornerstone for expertise in most domains, from driving to aviation to military operations to medical practice. The characteristics that allow people to develop high levels of SA often develop silently alongside more observable features like skilled physical performance, even in tasks such as sports that are considered primarily physical in nature.

Take for example the following excerpt from a magazine story about Wayne Gretzky, an all-time leading hockey scorer who set or tied 49 different National Hockey League records, including most goals, most points, and most assists.

Gretzky doesn't look like a hockey player. … His shot is only average – or, nowadays, below average … Gretzky's gift, his genius even, is for seeing … To most fans, and sometimes even to the players on the ice, hockey frequently looks like chaos: sticks flailing, bodies falling, the puck ricocheting just out of reach. But amid the mayhem, Gretzky can discern the game's underlying pattern and flow, and anticipate what's going to happen faster and in more detail than anyone else in the building. Several times during a game you'll see him making what seem to be aimless circles on the other side of the rink from the traffic, and then, as if answering a signal, he'll dart ahead to a spot where, an instant later, the puck turns up. […]