Several authors have highlighted the role of intuition in expertise. In particular, a large amount of data has been collected about intuition in expert nursing, and intuition plays an important role in the influential theory of nursing expertise developed by Benner (1984). We discuss this theory, and highlight both data that support it and data that challenge it. Based on this assessment, we propose a new theory of nursing expertise and intuition, which emphasizes how perception and conscious problem solving are intimately related. In the discussion, we propose that this theory opens new avenues of enquiry for research into nursing expertise. KeywordsCare, decision-making, expertise, intuition, memory, nursing, pattern recognition Expert Intuition in Nursing 3 Towards an alternative to Benner's theory of expert intuition in nursing:A discussion paper What is already known about the topic?• While the role of intuition in nursing has been the topic of considerable debate, studies have established that this is a genuine phenomenon.• Definitions of experts' intuition emphasize five features: rapid perception, lack of awareness of the processes engaged, presence of emotions, holistic understanding of the situation, and overall good quality of the proposed solutions.• The literature often refers to Patricia Benner's theory of nursing expertise, which proposes that the road to expertise encompasses five stages. What this paper adds• A detailed discussion of Benner's theory, which leads to the conclusion that the theory is too simple to account for the complex pattern of phenomena that recent research on expert intuition has uncovered.• A new theory of expert intuition in nursing, which provides mechanisms for explaining how intuitive, perceptual decision making is linked to more analytical problem solving.• The suggestion that standard research on expertise (mostly based on the natural sciences) and that on nursing expertise (often based on phenomenology) should start a constructive dialogue. Expert Intuition in Nursing

Several authors have hailed intuition as one of the defining features of expertise. In particular, while disagreeing on almost anything that touches on human cognition and artificial intelligence, Hubert Dreyfus and Herbert Simon agreed on this point. However, the highly influential theories of intuition they proposed differed in major ways, especially with respect to the role given to search and as to whether intuition is holistic or analytic. Both theories suffer from empirical weaknesses. In this paper, we show how, with some additions, a recent theory of expert memory (the template theory) offers a coherent and wide-ranging explanation of intuition in expert behaviour. It is shown that the theory accounts for the key features of intuition: it explains the rapid onset of intuition and its perceptual nature, provides mechanisms for learning, incorporates processes showing how perception is linked to action and emotion, and how experts capture the entirety of a situation. In doing so, the new theory addresses the issues problematic for Dreyfus's and Simon's theories.Implications for research and practice are discussed. AcknowledgmentsWe are grateful to Stuart Dreyfus, Gary Klein, Pat Langley and Richard Smith for detailed comments on a previous version of this manuscript.

The perception and handling of numbers is central to education. Numerous imaging studies have focused on how quantities are encoded in the brain. Yet, only a few studies have touched upon number mining: the ability to extract the magnitude encoded in a visual stimulus. This article aims to characterize how analogue (i.e., disks and dots) and symbolic (i.e., positive and negative integers) formats influence number mining and the representation of quantities. Sixteen adult volunteers completed a comparison task while we recorded the blood oxygen level-dependent response using functional magnetic resonance imaging. The results revealed that a restricted set of specific subdivisions in the right intraparietal sulcus is activated in all conditions. With respect to magnitude assessment, the results show that 1) analogue stimuli are predominantly processed in the right hemisphere and that 2) symbolic stimuli encompass the analogue system and further recruit areas in the left hemisphere. Crucially, we found that polarity is encoded independently from magnitude. We refine the triple-code model by integrating our findings.

It is well established that intuition plays an important role in experts' decision making and thinking generally. However, the theories that have been developed at the cognitive level have limits in their explanatory power and lack detailed explanation of the underlying biological mechanisms. In this paper, we bridge this gap by proposing that Hebb's (1949) concept of cell assembly is the biological realization of Simon's (1974) concept of chunking. This view provides mechanisms at the biological level that are consistent with both biological and psychological findings. To further address the limits of previous theories, we introduce emotions as a component of intuition by showing how they modulate the perception-memory interaction. The idea that intuition lies at the crossroads between perception, knowledge, and emotional modulation sheds new light on the phenomena of expertise and intuition.

Image aesthetic pleasure (AP) is conjectured to be related to image visual complexity (VC). The aim of the present study was to investigate whether (a) two image attributes, AP and VC, are reflected in eye-movement parameters; and (b) subjective measures of AP and VC are related. Participants (N=26) explored car front images (M=50) while their eye movements were recorded. Following image exposure (10 seconds), its VC and AP were rated. Fixation count was found to positively correlate with the subjective VC and its objective proxy, JPEG compression size, suggesting that this eye-movement parameter can be considered an objective behavioral measure of VC. AP, in comparison, positively correlated with average dwelling time. Subjective measures of AP and VC were related too, following an inverted U-shape function best-fit by a quadratic equation. In addition, AP was found to be modulated by car prestige. Our findings reveal a close relationship between subjective and objective measures of complexity and aesthetic appraisal, which is interpreted within a prototype-based theory framework.

ERP experiments were conducted to analyze the underlying neural events when chess players make simple judgments of a board position. Fourteen expert players and 14 age-matched novices viewed, for each of four tasks, 128 unique positions on a mini (4 × 4) chess board each presented for 0.5 s. The tasks were to respond: (a) if white king was in check, (b) if black knight was present, (c) if white king was not in check, and (d) if no black knight was present. Experts showed an enhanced N2 with check targets and a larger P3 with knight targets, relative to novices. Expert-novice differences in posterior N2 began as early as 240 ms on check-related searches. Results were consistent with the view that prolonged N2 components reflect matching of current perceptual input to memory, and thus are sensitive to experts' superior pattern recognition and memory retrieval of chunks.

The respective roles of knowledge and search have received considerable attention in the literature on expertise. However, most of the evidence on knowledge has been indirect – e.g., by inferring the presence of chunks in long-term memory from performance in memory recall tasks. Here we provide direct estimates of the amount of monochrestic (single use) and rote knowledge held by chess players of varying skill levels. From a large chess database, we analyzed 76,562 games played in 2008 by individuals ranging from Class B players (average players) to Masters to measure the extent to which players deviate from previously known initial sequences of moves (“openings”). Substantial differences were found in the number of moves known by players of different skill levels, with more expert players knowing more moves. Combined with assumptions independently made about the branching factor in master games, we estimate that masters have memorized about 100,000 opening moves. Our results support the hypothesis that monochrestic knowledge is essential for reaching high levels of expertise in chess. They provide a direct, quantitative estimate of the number of opening moves that players have to know to reach master level.

Abstract. In contrast to our knowledge about instructed emotion regulation, rather little is known about the effects of habitual (or “spontaneous”) emotion regulation on neural processing. We analyzed the relationship between everyday use of cognitive reappraisal (measured by the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, ERQ-R), and the amplitude of the late positive potential (LPP), which is sensitive to down-regulation of negative emotions via reappraisal. Participants viewed a series of neutral and threatening images, and rated them for level of threat. We found increased LPP amplitude for threatening compared to neutral pictures between 500 and 1,500 ms. Crucially, we found smaller LPP amplitudes to threatening versus neutral pictures for participants who used reappraisal more often in everyday life. This relationship between LPP amplitude and the ERQ-R was observed in the 1,000–1,500 ms interval of the LPP, over right centro-parietal electrodes. The current findings indicate that habitual tendency to use reappraisal is associated with reduced amplitude of the LPP in response to threatening pictures, in the absence of any explicit instruction to regulate emotions.