Researchers Explore What Expertise Looks Like in the Brain
They found significant differences between novice and expert brain activity.
Problem-solving, especially overcoming challenging issues, has been a trademark talent of our species, probably since we evolved. Even now, it’s so common we rarely pause to consider how remarkable our problem-solving behavior is. After all, challenging problems demand deep concentration to solve, whether a complicated math equation, strategizing a game, or planning your next vacation.
To succeed, you need to come up with and consider various possible scenarios, methods, and approaches. In time, a solution forms bit by bit as information falls into place, the picture becomes focused, and a lightbulb goes off. It may even feel like the answer materializes in your mind — but what’s actually happening in our brain during this process?
The Curiosity
Hanna Poikonen, a senior researcher and lecturer at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, has spent her career studying the functions underlying expertise in the brain. In an article she penned in Scientific American about her research, she mentioned the curiosity behind her most recent study (which I’ll tell you about soon):
“[W]e wanted to understand what…
