This article presents a theory in which automatization is construed as the acquisition of a
domain-specific knowledge base, formed of separate representations, instances, of each …

The instance theory assumes that automatic performance is based on single-step direct-
access retrieval from memory of prior solutions to present problems. The theory predicts that …

Abstract [Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 20 (6) of Journal of
Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition (see record 2008-10475-001) …

This article describes a theoretical controversy over the nature of automaticity and suggests
implications of the controversy for the design of training programs. One side of the …

The instance theory of automaticity claims that people learn what they attend to and express
what they learned in transfer if they attend to the same things in the same was. These …

The shift with practice from use of generic, multistep problem-solving strategies to fast and
relatively effortless memory-based strategies, was explored in 2 experiments using …

Abstract Effects of exemplar similarity on the development of automaticity were investigated
with a task in which participants judged the numerosity of random patterns of between 6 and …

Four experiments tested the necessity of extended practice in producing automaticity in an
alphabet–arithmetic task in which subjects verified equations of the form A+ 2= C, asking …

Limitations in human performance have frequently been explained by the concept of limited
capacity. Consonant with this view is the assumption that improvement in performance is …

All of us have learned much about language, music, physical or social environment, and
other complex domains, out of any intentional attempts to acquire information. This chapter …