Fernand Gobet

My main research interest is the psychology of expertise and talent, which I have studied in numerous domains including board games, business, sport, physics, computer programming, music, language acquisition, nursing and physiotherapy. My research combines experimental methods with computational modelling. I have over 250 publications, including six books on expertise and computational modelling. My two latest books are Problem Gambling (2014) and Understanding Expertise: A Multidisciplinary Approach (2015).

I’m the main architect behind the CHREST project (Chunk Hierarchy and REtrieval STructures), one of the few cognitive architectures in the world. Beyond perception, memory and decision making in a number of games (chess, Go, awele and blackjack), CHREST has simulated data on concept formation, implicit learning, memory for computer programs, problem gambling, and the acquisition of vocabulary and syntax.

Further research interests include the acquisition of language, scientific discovery, and the methodology of computational modelling.