Professor Studied How Elite Performers Reach the Top; Anders Ericsson of Florida State prescribed a long slog of 'deliberate practice' Hagerty, James R . Wall Street Journal (Online) ; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y] 25 June 2020.

For anyone who ever wanted to win a marathon, master Beethoven's "Hammerklavier" on the piano or simply lower a golf handicap, Anders Ericsson had encouraging news: You don't need to be born with a gift.

Dr. Ericsson, a professor of psychology at Florida State University, argued that sustained practice was far more important than any innate advantages in determining who reaches the top in athletic, artistic and other fields.

That practice, however, couldn't be mindless repetition. He called for "deliberate practice," preferably guided by an expert teacher, focused on identifying and correcting weaknesses and monitoring progress. If you were enjoying the practice, it probably wasn't working.

Dr. Ericsson's research gained prominence with the publication of "Outliers," a 2008 book by Malcolm Gladwell. Drawing loosely on Dr. Ericsson's findings, Mr. Gladwell proclaimed "the 10,000-Hour Rule," to denote the typical amount of practice time needed to master certain skills, such as playing the violin at an elite level. Dr. Ericsson later wrote that Mr. Gladwell's rule oversimplified the relevant research.

Dr. Ericsson died June 17 at his home in Tallahassee, Fla., apparently of a heart ailment. He was 72.

The Swedish-born psychologist provided his own popular summary of his findings in a 2016 book, "Peak," written with Robert Pool.

Growing recognition of his work won Dr. Ericsson speaking engagements around the world and invitations to advise the Philadelphia Eagles and Manchester City soccer club. Talk-show host Larry King called him "an expert on experts."

His work helped encourage a trend in medical education to put more emphasis on practicing skills and providing feedback to correct lapses, said Graham McMahon, chief executive of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education.

Though parents and teachers preach the importance of practice, many people don't know how to do it effectively, Dr. Ericsson said. People often practice what they already know how to do rather than trying to master something they can't yet do.

To improve at chess, he said, it's more important to study grandmasters' games than to play a lot of chess.

One problem is that effective forms of practice are hard work and "generally not fun," his book warned: "If your mind is wandering or you're relaxed and just having fun, you probably won't improve." Experts learn to cultivate "mental representations," or an ability to read complicated patterns and react almost instantly, he said. For a quarterback, pulling off that trick is the difference between a completed pass and an interception.

Early in his career, as a postdoctoral researcher at Carnegie Mellon University in the late 1970s, he hired students to train themselves to memorize long strings of digits. The most successful performers discovered ways to break those strings down into memorable chunks that they could store in their brains and then recall in the proper order.

In a recent interview, Dr. Ericsson recalled pressing the students to explain "what actually happened in your head while you were doing this?"

In the late 1980s, he quizzed elite musicians at an academy in Berlin about their practice habits.

Dr. Ericsson saw major advantages in hiring personal trainers. "No matter how many times you watch a demonstration in class or on YouTube, you are still going to miss or misunderstand some subtleties," he and Mr. Pool wrote in "Peak."

Zach Hambrick, a professor of psychology at Michigan State University, agreed with Dr. Ericsson that ractice is vital in developing expertise. But Dr. Hambrick said other factors—including personality traits and intellectual abilities—may also play important roles in determining who comes out on top.

Dr. Ericsson's work and enthusiasm brought world-wide attention to the study of expertise, Dr. Hambrick said, adding: "It's hard to imagine this field without him."

Karl Anders Ericsson, whose father was a civil engineer, was born Oct. 23, 1947, in Stockholm. His childhood dreams included becoming a missionary or an explorer. He began studying nuclear physics but, after discovering Sigmund Freud and William James, switched to psychology.

He earned a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology at Stockholm University in 1976 and held academic posts at Carnegie Mellon, the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin and the University of Colorado Boulder before joining the Florida State faculty in 1992.

He is survived by his wife, Natalie Sachs-Ericsson, a clinical psychologist on the Florida State faculty. His survivors also include a brother and a sister, along with his two children and a grandson.

Though he studied the world's most ambitious strivers, Dr. Ericsson wasn't seeking to set world records for himself. He wasn't a serious athlete and didn't play musical instruments, his wife said. He was comfortable in an office surrounded by mounds of books and papers that appeared to have been arranged by a tornado. He also enjoyed public speaking and watching college football.