Supplemental Materials
Rethinking Expertise: A Multi-Factorial Gene–Environment Interaction Model of
Expert Performance
by F. Ullén et al., 2015, Psychological Bulletin
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/bul0000033
Supplementary Material – Summary of Literature Searches
Studies to include in the present review were identified from earlier reviews (see list below and the
full reference list) and from systematic literature searches performed in August 2015 (Supplementary
Figure 1). Papers identified from these searches were considered further if they were based on (i)
healthy human subjects, (ii) participants that varied in measures of expertise (level of skill, amount of
deliberate practice, or professional status), and (iii) included relevant measures of either behavioral
(expert performance) or neurobiological (neuroimaging data) outcomes.
Due to the size of the literature, it was impossible to include references to all original studies in the
narrative review. Thus, especially for older literature, we generally instead provide references to
relevant earlier reviews (see list below). In the section on neurobiological correlates of expertise, we
focus on those papers that are topically relevant for the model we propose, i.e., neuroanatomical
and functional imaging papers demonstrating that expert performance involves extensive plastic
reorganization of neural circuits, including brain regions involved in long-term memory. We do not
cover neurobiological papers dealing with other aspects of expertise (e.g., aesthetical judgment,
adaptations in primary sensory areas, altered activity in the default mode network).
1. Earlier reviews and metaanalyses used in the present review:








Ackerman, P. L. (1987). Individual differences in skill learning: An integration of psychometric
and information processing perspectives. Psychological Bulletin, 102(1), 3-27.
Ackerman, P. L. (1996). A theory of adult intellectual development: Process, personality,
interests, and knowledge. Intelligence, 22(2), 227-257.
Adams, J. A. (1987). Historical review and appraisal of research on learning, retention, and
transfer of human motor skills. Psychological Bulletin, 101(1), 41-74.
Barnett, S. M., & Ceci, S. J. (2002). When and where do we apply what we learn? A taxonomy
for far transfer. Psychological Bulletin, 128(4), 612-637.
Bouchard, T. J., Jr., & McGue, M. (2003). Genetic and environmental influences on human
psychological differences. Journal of Neurobiology, 54, 4-45.
Caspers, S., Zilles, K., Laird, A. R., & Eickhoff, S. B. (2010). ALE meta-analysis of action
observation and imitation in the human brain. NeuroImage, 50, 1148-1167.
Ericsson, K. A. (2007). Deliberate practice and the modifiability of body and mind: Toward a
science of the structure and acquisition of expert and elite performance. International
Journal of Sport Psychology, 38, 4-34.
Ericsson, K. A. (2014). Why expert performance is special and cannot be extrapolated from
studies of performance in the general population: A response to criticisms. Intelligence, 45,
81-103.























Ericsson, K. A., Charness, N., Feltovich, P. J., & Hoffman, R. R. (Eds.). (2006). The Cambridge
Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Ericsson, K. A., & Kintsch, W. (1995). Long-term working memory. Psychological Review,
102(2), 211-245.
Ericsson, K. A., Krampe, R. T., & Tesch-Römer, C. (1993). The role of deliberate practice in the
acquisition of expert performance. Psychological Review, 100(3), 363-406.
Ericsson, K. A., & Lehmann, A. C. (1996). Expert and exceptional performance: Evidence of
maximal adaptation to task constraints. Annual Review of Psychology, 47, 273-305.
Ericsson, K. A., & Smith, J. (Eds.). (1991). Toward a General Theory of Expertise: Prospects and
Limits. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Ericsson, K. A., & Ward, P. (2007). Capturing the naturally occurring superior performance of
experts in the laboratory: Toward a science of expert and exceptional performance. Current
Directions in Psychological Science, 16(6), 346-350.
Eysenck, H. (1995). Genius. The Natural History of Creativity (Vol. 12). Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Ferguson, C. J. (2007). The good, the bad, and the ugly: a meta-analytic review of positive
and negative effects of violent video games. Psychiatry Quarterly, 78, 309-316.
Gobet, F., DeVoogt, A., & Retschitzki, J. (2004). Moves in Mind: The Psychology of Board
Games. Sussex, England: Psychology Press.
Guida, A., Gobet, F., Tardieu, H., & Nicolas, S. (2012). How chunks, long-term working
memory and templates offer a cognitive explanation for neuroimaging data on expertise
acquisition: A two-stage framework. Brain and Cognition, 79(3), 221-244.
Hambrick, D. Z., Oswald, F. L., Altmann, E. M., Meinz, E. J., Gobet, F., & Campitelli, G. (2014).
Deliberate practice: Is that all it takes to become an expert? Intelligence, 45, 34-45.
Howe, M. J. A., Davidson, J. W., & Sloboda, J. A. (1998). Innate talents: Reality or myth?
Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 21, 399-407.
Klingberg, T. (2010). Training and plasticity of working memory. Trends in Cognitive Sciences,
14(7), 317-324.
Latham, A. J., Patston, L. L. M., & Tippett, L. J. (2013). The virtual brain: 30 years of videogame play and cognitive abilities. Frontiers in Psychology, 4. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00629
Macnamara, B. N., Hambrick, D. Z., & Oswald, F. L. (2014). Deliberate practice and
performance in music, games, sports, education, and professions: A meta-analysis.
Psychological Science, 25(8), 1608-1618.
Melby-Lervåg, M., & Hulme, C. (2013). Is working memory training effective? A meta-analytic
review. Developmental Psychology, 49, 270-291.
Münte, T. F., Altenmüller, E., & Jäncke, L. (2002). The musician's brain as a model of
neuroplasticity. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 3, 473-478.
Pantev, C., & Herholz, S. C. (2011). Plasticity of the human auditory cortex related to musical
training. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 35(10), 2140-2145.
Schellenberg, E. G., & Weiss, M. W. (2013). Music and cognitive abilities. In D. Deutsch (Ed.),
The Psychology of Music (pp. 499-550). London, UK: Academic Press.
Shinaver, C. S., Entwistle, P. C., & Soderqvist, S. (2014). Cogmed WM training: Reviewing the
reviews. Applied Neuropsychology-Child, 3(3), 163-172.
Shipstead, Z., Hicks, K. L., & Engle, R. W. (2012). Cogmed working memory training: Does the
evidence support the claims? Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 1, 185193.
Shipstead, Z., Redick, T. S., & Engle, R. W. (2012). Is working memory training effective?
Psychological Bulletin, 138(4), 628-654.
Singley, M., & Anderson, J. R. (1989). The Transfer of Cognitive Skill. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
Univ Press.

Sternberg, R. J., & Grigorenko, E. L. (Eds.). (2003). The Psychology of Abilities, Competencies,
and Expertise. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Figure S1. Flow diagram of the literature searches.