Overview
- An international team led by Arne Güllich published an Analytical Review in Science reassessing how elite performers develop.
- The researchers reanalyzed developmental histories of 34,839 top performers across science, classical music, chess, and sport.
- Early stars rarely became the very best adults, while many world‑class achievers showed gradual early progress and were not top in their age groups.
- Future elites more often sampled multiple activities before specializing, consistent with proposed search‑and‑match, enhanced‑learning‑capital, and limited‑risks hypotheses.
- The authors recommend supporting youth to explore two or three disciplines, with coverage highlighting potential shifts in talent and education programs but no major policy changes yet.