Week #14 - Muscle Memory - Amratha Rao P3
Week #14 - Muscle Memory - Amratha Rao P3
I’m sure we all know how to ride a bike. But how well can you explain and break down the process to someone? Sure, it’s all about finding your balance, but are you actually conscious about maintaining your balance when you bike? Most likely not. Activities like biking come naturally and without thought to most of us, because it is an activity we have repeated so many times that our muscles have become accustomed to the movement. Over time, our muscles strengthen and the motion becomes natural to us, memorizing the action.
Obviously, our muscles can’t store memories, but these movements can be stored as procedural memories, or “memory for skills.” Our motor cortex is primarily responsible for most of our muscle movement, so when we learn new skills, cells from the motor cortex pass through our spinal cord and make connections with neurons to instruct certain muscles in our body to contract. The more we practice a certain movement, the more connections are made, allowing for “finer” and more precise motion. These connections can be labeled as “representations” and as they change and strengthen, the motions we practice are preserved, creating “muscle memory”.
Observe yourself right now as you’re reading this blog post; you’re most likely typing up your blogger comment. How often have you looked down at the keyboard? Probably once or twice, but that’s about it because given the amount of time we’ve spent typing up English assignments and reports, we’ve most likely memorized the different key positions and typing up basic phrases won’t require any real conscious thought.
Muscle memory is an interesting phenomenon, highlighting how both our brains and muscles strengthen and work together to create skills and motions that we will continue to build and grow everyday.
Image: https://www.dreamstime.com/illustration/muscle-memory.html
Hi Amratha, I agree, muscle memory is a super interesting function our bodies have that is most of the time overlooked and taken for granted. When typing in passwords, I don't even have to consciously think of it as I'm typing, my fingers just enter it for me because I use it every day. When you perform an action enough times, muscle memory will also allow you to complete the task faster and smoother because of the sheer amount of practice you get. It's also interesting that even when you don't do something for a long time and your muscle memory starts to fade, it is very easy to pick it back up again.
ReplyDeleteAmratha, this blog post really made me think about times when my muscle memory kicked. I used to do taekwondo, a form of martial arts, and there is a certain way to tie your belt. My sister now goes to the same studio and when she was tying her belt I wanted to see if I remembered how to tie the belt. I took her belt and even after four years I was still able to tie the belt around my waist. After tying that belt around my waist for almost 4 years every week, my hands had that routine memorized so even after four years I was still able to tie it. Muscle memory is definitely a very unique thing Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteHi Amratha! It certainly is interesting how much we just unconsciously memorize in our day to day life. Everything from turning a doorknob to typing is completely done just by sheer motor memory. It is odd to think that our brain is just saving all of this. This also reminds me of the cache that our browsers use where it saves what websites we commonly visit and automatically suggests this stuff. Our brain is basically just keeping certain actions in our cache. How much muscle memory can do is certainly an interesting thing. Could you create an involuntary reflex just from muscle memory is probably something worth looking into as we understand how much power our unconscious has over us.
ReplyDeleteHi Amratha, I thought the topic of your blog was very interesting and after reading it, I considered other movements of mine that can be muscle memory. I wonder if muscle memory is somewhat connected to when we do or say things automatically without thinking because we have encountered similar events before, such as when we are listening to a friend rant and nod and agree without thinking or when we talk in our sleep. Regardless, I still feel that this phenomenon is very compelling. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHey Amratha the topic of muscle memory really is one that I have often overlooked. However, upon you describing such events such as trying to describe to someone how to ride a bike, I realized it is almost impossible for me to do so. Sure, I can tell them to pump the pedals and use your arms to maintain balance, but it is impossible for me to describe to them just how to maintain such balance. Thank you for this amazing insight into muscle memory, and I look forward to hearing more from you in the future.
ReplyDeleteHey Amratha, This reminds me of when I went to Taiwan a couple summers ago. In Taiwan, my bedroom in my grandparents’ house has a bathroom outside to the left, but in the US, our bathroom is to the right. Since I was in Taiwan for so long, I got used to the layout of my grandparents’ house. Consequently, after I got back to the US, if I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings, I would find myself accidentally hitting the wall, turning left out of habit, instead of turning right to go to the bathroom. It is really interesting how muscle memory works. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteMuscle Memory is such an interesting concept because it also is what allows our muscles to bounce back so quickly. I know a lot of times I have to take a break from working out but less than a week after I’d start up again, my muscles would be pretty much back to full operating power. Also recently as I’ve been driving more, it’s crazy how sometimes I almost feel as though I’ve zoned out but I can drive safely and take the right turns(I have not actually zoned out, I’m a very conscious and active driver). The mind’s ability to keep us functioning properly and bouncing back from setbacks is incredible.
ReplyDeleteHi Amratha! I found your blog on muscle memory to be super interesting. I had always wondered how muscle memory works and your blog answered my confusion. I had no clue that our brain makes connections called “representations” when we perform certain movements and produce muscle memory. I also realized that many actions that I perform in daily life are from muscle memory. For example, I have signed in to my GAFE account so many times throughout my education that typing the username and password has become muscle memory. I do not even have to think about it or look at the keys when I sign in. I think muscle memory is so fascinating and I feel curious to learn more about if muscle memory will go away over time. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Amratha! Muscle memory is such an interesting concept, and its fascinating that we have the capacity to do this. Like you mentioned, we barely look down at our keyboards when typing anymore. It's almost easy to forget when I struggled to learn how to type while taking online typing lessons in elementary school. The idea of representations that our brain creates when we perform certain movements is one that I was not aware of. It is a very unique thing, and it is also interesting that some actions are essentially ingrained into us, so we barely have to "think" about doing them.
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