Alexander Burgoyne drums with The Blue Effect at MGM Grand Casino, Detroit
Alexander P. Burgoyne was awarded the Rasmussen Fellowship upon enrolling in the doctoral program at MSU.

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Alexander P. Burgoyne

Hi, I'm Alex. I'm fascinated by expertise and the processes underlying complex skill acquisition. My research interests include the role of talent, practice, and personality characteristics in the attainment of exceptional performance, longitudinal predictors of competency, the contribution of cognitive control and meta-awareness to the efficacy of practice, the relationship between working memory and music aptitude, and creativity & improvisation.

Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience Doctoral Program
Michigan State University
Ongoing Projects:

Testing the Circumvention of Limits Hypothesis
Does the relationship between cognitive ability and complex skill acquisition decrease as a function of domain-relevant experience? To what extent can selective attrition and reliance on fast processes account for decreasing ability-performance correlations? This multi-domain project seeks to test the circumvention of limits hypothesis in chess, music, sports, and other professions.

Acquiring Skill in Music: An Individual Differences Approach
What enables some people to defy the typical trajectory of skill acquisition and attain expert levels of performance well before their peers? In this project I assess the relative contribution of individual differences to the acquisition of musical skill in novice pianists.

Predictors of Multitasking Performance
With technology woven into the fabric of everyday experience, there is an increasing demand for multitaskers, especially in the workplace. This longitudinal experiment tracks the effect of specialized training on predictors of multitasking competency.

Malleability of Placekeeping Ability
We're testing the malleability of placekeeping ability, a ubiquitous cognitive control construct involved in everything from medical procedures and military operations to making your morning cup of coffee.

Talent Heatmap
We're using modern data visualization techniques to better understand regional talent hotbeds in sports and music.
Publications

Sisk & Burgoyne et al. (under review)

How Important is a Growth Mindset to Academic Achievement? Two Meta-analyses

Burgoyne et al. (submitted)

The Impact of Domain-Specific Experience on Chess Skill: Re-Analysis of a Key Study

Hambrick & Burgoyne et al. (in press)

Working Memory, Thinking, and Expertise
International Handbook of Thinking and Reasoning.

Hambrick et al. (submitted)

A Knowledge-Activation Approach to Testing the Circumvention-of-Limits Hypothesis

Burgoyne et al. (2016)

The Relationship between Cognitive Ability and Chess Skill: A Comprehensive Meta-Analysis
Intelligence.

Sala & Burgoyne et al. (2017)

Checking the “Academic Selection” Argument. Chess Players Outperform Non-Chess Players in Cognitive Skills Related to Intelligence: A Meta-Analysis
Intelligence.

Programs

These programs were developed in E-Studio for E-Prime.

Email burgoyn4@msu.edu for password


Automated Pattern Comparison (Gs)

Automated Reading Comprehension (Gc)

Typing Speed
Popular Writing