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music, games, sports, science, and other complex domains reflects knowledge and
skills acquired through experience. However, it is equally clear that basic
abilities, which are known to be substantially heritable, also contribute to
performance differences in many domains, even among highly skilled performers.
As we discuss here, our research shows that working memory
capacity predicts performance in complex tasks even in individuals
with high levels of domain-specific experience and knowledge. We discuss
implications of our findings for the understanding of individual differences in
skill and identify challenges for future research.
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