Cognitive entrenchment is Erik Dane's term for when deep experience in a narrow domain makes experts less able to adapt when rules or contexts change. They have traded flexibility for local efficiency.
Examples
Experienced bridge players struggled more than novices when play order changed. Experienced accountants did worse than novices applying a new tax law. Surgeons and accountants improve with repetition of the same procedure — until the procedure changes slightly.
It is the cognitive cousin of man-with-a-hammer-syndrome and einstellung-effect: the installed solution blocks better ones.
Antidotes
Epstein via Dane: drastically vary challenges within a domain, and insist on having one foot outside your world. Successful career adapters kept multiple "career streams" open early and used outside experiences as "circuit breakers" against previous solutions. Nobel laureates and elite scientists are disproportionately likely to have serious avocations outside their field — not wasted time, cross-training against entrenchment.