<p>There are a few people who have been very extensively experimented on because they have unusual brain lesions (which is kind of like the opposite of a skill). The most famous is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Molaison" rel="nofollow">Henry Molaison (HM)</a>, who developed a rare case of episodic anterograde amnesia following surgery for severe epilepsy. He spent the entire latter part of his life in a care institute and was a continuous subject of various learning experiments and imaging studies. Another patient with very specific memory-related lesions is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KC_%28patient%29" rel="nofollow">KC</a>, who has been the subject of at least 20 case studies. </p>

<p>A couple of other studies that might be of interest are <a href="http://www.journalofvision.org/content/8/16/13.full" rel="nofollow">West et al. (2008)</a>, who recruited experienced video game players in order to find people with strong skills at rapid visual scanning, and <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111208125720.htm" rel="nofollow">research by Eleanor Maguire and colleagues</a> that examined structural changes in the brains of new London taxi drivers as they acquired their fantastically detailed spatial map of the city's streets. </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>West, G. L., Stevens, S. A., Pun, C., &amp; Pratt, J. (2008). Visuospatial
  experience modulates attentional capture: Evidence from action video
  game players. Journal of Vision, 8(16).</p>
  
  <p>Maguire, E. A., Gadian, D. G., Johnsrude, I. S., Good, C. D.,
  Ashburner, J., Frackowiak, R. S., &amp; Frith, C. D. (2000).
  Navigation-related structural change in the hippocampi of taxi
  drivers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 97(8),
  4398-4403.</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-11-18T20:08:28.347Z
Or e.g. professional musicians: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14642491
jokel
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-11-18T23:34:14.220Z
Great, this is just the kind of info I've been looking for!
Alex Stone
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-11-18T19:41:00.447Z
2012-11-18T23:24:15.390Z
2012-11-18T23:24:15.390Z
octern
<p>I'm interested in how cognitive science experiments are designed and executed. Up until now, all of the papers I've seen dealing with cognition use <strong>availability of test subjects</strong> as one of the major factors of recruitment for experiments. For example, students are recruited for an experiment, and because the group is so <strong>diverse, they are tested on general skills</strong> that the entire group would possess, like reading or math. </p>

<p>For example, consider this experiment: <a href="http://www.voxeu.org/article/does-happiness-affect-productivity">"Happiness economics" in reverse: Does happiness affect productivity?</a> There were 276 university students and faculty involved. The students are tested with a math task.</p>

<p>Math and reading comprehension are general skills, and I can think of few people who earn their living with those skills, aside from SAT tutors.</p>

<p>I'm interested if there have been other types of cognitive experiments tried, where the <strong>skills used to evaluate experiment are at a "professional" level.</strong> For example professional athletes, soldiers or pilots come to mind.</p>

<ul>
<li>Experiments that use scoring percentage as a metric for basketball players</li>
<li>Experiments that use marksmanship grouping as a metric</li>
<li>Professional video game players</li>
</ul>

<p><strong>Are there any groups of people, whose professional skills are consistently tested as metric of cognitive performance?</strong> </p>

<p>Thank you for your input!</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-11-18T03:01:54.273Z
I can't think of any landmark studies, but there are certainly a lot of examples of this in the literature.  Sports psychology is a big field in and of itself.
Chuck Sherrington
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-11-18T21:11:45.933Z
classic study on expertise: 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. https://syllabus.byu.edu/uploads/h52kB4gCLyQP.pdf
Jeff
<cognitive-psychology><reference-request><methodology>
Are there professional cognitive science test subjects?
Alex Stone
# Are there professional cognitive science test subjects?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2012-11-17)

I'm interested in how cognitive science experiments are designed and executed. Up until now, all of the papers I've seen dealing with cognition use **availability of test subjects** as one of the major factors of recruitment for experiments. For example, students are recruited for an experiment, and because the group is so **diverse, they are tested on general skills** that the entire group would possess, like reading or math.

For example, consider this experiment: ["Happiness economics" in reverse: Does happiness affect productivity?](http://www.voxeu.org/article/does-happiness-affect-productivity) There were 276 university students and faculty involved. The students are tested with a math task.

Math and reading comprehension are general skills, and I can think of few people who earn their living with those skills, aside from SAT tutors.

I'm interested if there have been other types of cognitive experiments tried, where the **skills used to evaluate experiment are at a "professional" level.** For example professional athletes, soldiers or pilots come to mind.

* Experiments that use scoring percentage as a metric for basketball players
* Experiments that use marksmanship grouping as a metric
* Professional video game players

**Are there any groups of people, whose professional skills are consistently tested as metric of cognitive performance?**

Thank you for your input!

**Tags:** cognitive-psychology, reference-request, methodology

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I can't think of any landmark studies, but there are certainly a lot of examples of this in the literature.  Sports psychology is a big field in and of itself.  
> **username_2**: classic study on expertise: 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. https://syllabus.byu.edu/uploads/h52kB4gCLyQP.pdf  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2012-11-18. Score: 5 | Accepted answer

There are a few people who have been very extensively experimented on because they have unusual brain lesions (which is kind of like the opposite of a skill). The most famous is [Henry Molaison (HM)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Molaison), who developed a rare case of episodic anterograde amnesia following surgery for severe epilepsy. He spent the entire latter part of his life in a care institute and was a continuous subject of various learning experiments and imaging studies. Another patient with very specific memory-related lesions is [KC](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KC_%28patient%29), who has been the subject of at least 20 case studies.

A couple of other studies that might be of interest are [West et al. (2008)](http://www.journalofvision.org/content/8/16/13.full), who recruited experienced video game players in order to find people with strong skills at rapid visual scanning, and [research by Eleanor Maguire and colleagues](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111208125720.htm) that examined structural changes in the brains of new London taxi drivers as they acquired their fantastically detailed spatial map of the city's streets.

> West, G. L., Stevens, S. A., Pun, C., & Pratt, J. (2008). Visuospatial
> experience modulates attentional capture: Evidence from action video
> game players. Journal of Vision, 8(16).
>
> Maguire, E. A., Gadian, D. G., Johnsrude, I. S., Good, C. D.,
> Ashburner, J., Frackowiak, R. S., & Frith, C. D. (2000).
> Navigation-related structural change in the hippocampi of taxi
> drivers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 97(8),
> 4398-4403.

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: Or e.g. professional musicians: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14642491  
> **username_0**: Great, this is just the kind of info I've been looking for!  

---

