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For a long time, it has been presumed that the path to greatness is paved by early identification of gifted youth, followed by years of intensive, discipline-specific training. Across different fields – sports, music or academics – the prevailing wisdom has been to spot prodigies early and double down on their strengths. However, a recent study, which has been published in the Science journal, suggests this could be a misguided approach.
Rethinking the prodigy myth
The study examined thousands of adults across multiple fields, such as sports, music and academia. The researchers discovered that world-class performers — including Olympic champions and Nobel laureates — often don’t excel early, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing the study.
The research was led by Arne Güllich, professor of sports science at Germany’s RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau and his colleagues.
They found out that top performers rarely start as prodigies, since many high achievers were not the best in their peer group during childhood.
Also, the study highlights that most of these individuals often engaged in multidisciplinary practice during their formative years rather than focusing on a particular discipline.
Key findings
As part of the study, the researchers found only a 10% overlap between high-performing children and elite-level adults. This means that most of the young top performers did not remain on top during peak-performance age.
“There are those child prodigies who later become world-class performers at peak performance age. But these are the exception, not the rule,” The Wall Street Journal quoted Güllich as saying.
According to Phys.org, Güllich stated that traditional research into “giftedness and expertise did not sufficiently consider the question of how world-class performers at peak performance age developed in their early years”.
The study found that young performers reached their peak quickly but mastered only one interest. On the other hand, exceptional adults reached peak performance slowly but achieved multidisciplinary practice.
The study found “two patterns: Exceptional young performers reached their peak quickly but narrowly mastered only one interest (e.g., one sport). By contrast, exceptional adults reached peak performance gradually with broader, multidisciplinary practice,” as per the Science journal.
Güllich and his team utilised data from nearly 35,000 adults in around two dozen previously published studies. Their research considered peak years as between 20 and 30 for sports and chess, while between 40 and 50 for science and music.
The latest analysis further challenges the notion that excellence comes after spending hours in specialised training from an early age.
