The Road Ahead

Last week I submitted my research proposal for doing a Cognitive Psychology PhD at Brunel University with Doctor Fernand Gobet. I have already received a formal offer of supervision and as well as this, Doctor Gobet was a great help in drafting the proposal.

The question I wish to research is 'Is expertise linked to cognitive superiority, as proposed by Gobet and Simon (1996a) or greater awareness of environmental factors, as proposed by Vicente and Wang (1998)?' This would involve continuing the work begun by my dissertation and would be based around three main experiments:

Experiment 1: Does memorizing standard chess positions first offer an advantage when memorizing truly random ones?

This experiment would involve splitting participants into groups based on chess-playing strength. Then each group would be divided in half, which would memorize either the normal or truly random positions first.

Experiment 2: Altering the Chess Environment: Does the use of non-standard pieces affect non-tournament players?

This experiment would be the same as for my dissertation, but the participants would be non-tournament players. This would test whether not having familiarity with a typical chess environment has an effect on the ability of the participants to memorize both normal and truly random chess positions.

Experiment 3: Template Theory vs. Constraint Attunement: Does an electronic environment offer any advantages when memorizing chess positions?

This experiment would involve participants being divided up by playing strength and the amount of experience they had of using typical chess software. This would test whether familiarization with a non-tournament chess environment provided stronger players with any advantages when memorizing chess positions.


Currently I am awaiting for my referees to send their references and then it is all in the hands of The Brunel University Funding Department.