Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

This paper reports two experiments which explore the relationship between working memory and the development of expertise. Consideration is given to the role played by external memory sources and displaybased problem solving in computer programming tasks. Evidence is presented which suggests that expertise in programming is dependent upon the development of strategies for effectively utilizing external displays. In this context, it appears that novices rely extensively upon working memory to generate as much of a solution as possible before transferring it to an external source. In contrast, experts make extensive use of an external display as an information repository. These results are discussed in terms of a framework which emphasizes the role of display-based problem solving and its contribution to strategy development.