Scientific American on Expert Minds

Michael Goeller of The Kenilworthian has an interesting post on "Expert Minds" - article in well respected publication, Scientific American.

On this (by the Scientific American):

These experiments corroborated earlier studies that had demonstrated convincingly that ability in one area tends not to transfer to another. American psychologist Edward Thorndike first noted this lack of transference over a century ago, when he showed that the study of Latin, for instance, did not improve command of English and that geometric proofs do not teach the use of logic in daily life.

Michael Goeller says:

That conclusion seems a bit unwarranted and runs counter to many other studies I've seen showing that when kids learn and improve at chess they gain many benefits which transfer to other areas of learning (see, for instance, Dr. Robert C. Ferguson's website for a good summary). After all, the idea that studying chess improves children's abilities to study generally is one of the basic premises of "chess in the schools" programs worldwide.