Whenever we learn to make a new movement, Ahmed explains, we form and then update an internal model—a “sensorimotor map”—which our nervous system uses to predict our muscles’ motions and the resistance they will encounter. As that internal model is refined over time, we’re able to cut down on unnecessary movements and eliminate wasted energy.
Read Annie Murphy Paul's article here.
3 comments:
This was interesting. What has fascinated me more and more about scientific work like that is how often it simply confirms long-standing wisdom. People have known the importance of "overlearning" for mastery for a very long time. It seems we live in an age, though, where we find more and more comfort in these sorts of studies and experiments that prove it for the hyper-skeptical mind (and not just the minds of children who obstinately don't want to practice or study).
This post reminds me I've often wondered why the word "proprioception" isn't used more often in talking about mastering musical skills. Surely it's part of how, "that internal model is refined over time."
Not sure how other people experience this, but for me there is sometimes an overlap between how it feels to make a bit of music as that bit of music can make me feel.
Oh yes! There's a huge overlap, and that overlap is constantly changing.
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