Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

How do chess players perceive events in a chess game, as these events unfold in in real-time? The study builds upon the hierarchical bias hypothesis, stating that observers instinctively segment activities in alignment with a partonomic hierarchy. The alignment effect observed in previous research is replicated, while chess experts' outperformed novices. Participants watched chess game videos and identified event boundaries. Data was analysed using discrete, continuous methods, as well as an agreement index. The results aim to deepen our understanding of the cognitive processes involved in chess expertise and event segmentation. They highlight the hierarchical organisation of mental representations in strategic contexts.