Expertise Dynamics -- Practice Flywheel and Automaticity Plateau¶
Run the Expertise Dynamics Diagram Fullscreen
About This MicroSim¶
This causal loop diagram shows two reinforcing loops in skill acquisition. R1 (Practice Flywheel) is the productive loop: deliberate practice builds the pattern library, which automatizes routine sub-tasks (with delay), which frees working memory for refinement, which makes edge-of-ability challenges tractable, which drives more deliberate practice. R2 (Automaticity Plateau) is the corrosive loop: automaticity produces perceived effortlessness, which reduces willingness to seek harder problems and suppresses informative feedback -- the classic intermediate plateau where many learners stop improving. Edge-of-ability challenge is the pivot variable that determines which loop dominates.
Diagram Details¶
graph LR
DPV["Deliberate Practice Volume"]:::r1 -->|"+"| PLS["Pattern Library Size"]:::r1
FQ["Feedback Quality"]:::r1 -->|"+"| PLS
PLS -->|"+ with delay"| ART["Automaticity of Routine Sub-tasks"]:::shared
ART -->|"+"| WMF["Working Memory Freed for Refinement"]:::r1
WMF -->|"+"| EAC["Edge-of-Ability Challenge"]:::pivot
EAC -->|"+"| DPV
ART -->|"+"| PE["Perceived Effortlessness"]:::r2
PE -->|"−"| WSH["Willingness to Seek Harder Problems"]:::r2
WSH -->|"+"| EAC
PE -->|"−"| FQ
R1[" R1: Practice Flywheel -- reinforcing, productive "]:::looplabel
R2[" R2: Automaticity Plateau -- reinforcing, corrosive "]:::looplabel
classDef r1 fill:#4A90D9,stroke:#2C5F8A,color:#fff
classDef r2 fill:#E8795A,stroke:#C0392B,color:#fff
classDef shared fill:#7B8D8E,stroke:#4A6163,color:#fff
classDef pivot fill:#5B7FAF,stroke:#3A5F8F,color:#fff
classDef looplabel fill:none,stroke:none,color:#555,font-size:12px