Studies of expert chess players reveal that their memory for chess positions is exceptional—but only for positions that could occur in real games. When pieces are placed randomly on the board, experts' memory is no better than beginners'. This suggests that expertise involves organizing information into meaningful patterns rather than simply having superior general memory capacity.
The passage suggests that
domain-specific expertise may develop through pattern recognition rather than enhanced innate abilities
chess experts have photographic memory for all visual information
random chess positions are easier to remember than game positions
beginners could never develop expert-level chess memory
Correct Answer: A
Choice A is the best answer. Expert advantage disappears with meaningless patterns.
- Context clues: Experts excel at real positions but not random ones; expertise involves "meaningful patterns."
- Meaning: If advantage requires meaningfulness, expertise is about pattern recognition, not raw memory.
- Verify: Equal performance on random positions shows general memory isn't enhanced.
💡 Strategy: When an advantage appears only under certain conditions, infer what those conditions reveal about the ability.
Choice B is incorrect because experts showed no advantage with random positions. Choice C is incorrect because experts performed better on game positions. Choice D is incorrect because the passage explains how expertise develops, implying it's achievable.