People learn in many ways. As educators, it is important for us to recognize differences in learning styles in order to assist our learners. As the seat of learning and intelligence, we view the mind as the primary learning mechanism. Individual minds learn best by individual routes. Some learn facts best by hearing, others by writing and still others by turning the facts into a song or a chant. The body plays an important role in learning. How the body ‘feels’ is an important factor in learning. We do not learn well if we are sick and focusing on a runny nose or headache. Muscles also play an important role in how we learn, not only whether they are tense or fatigued (body issues), but by gaining memories of their own. n
Physical Learning:
Adult education literature on physical learning is sorely lacking (MacKeracher, 2004). By adopting the findings and concepts of existing literature, physical learning models can easily be applied to the classroom environment.
Christopher Jacoby defines muscle memory as “the ability of our mind to capture a particular activity or movement” (Jacoby, 2015). According to Jacoby, muscles learn certain actions and are able to replicate the movements even decades after having last used that skill set. Examples he gave were bike riding, driving, and walking.
Athletes come to mind at the mention of muscle memory. They train over long periods of time to get their muscles to complete the desired actions as an automatic, thoughtless response. It would a very difficult process to dunk a basketball if the player had to focus on the biomechanics of the act. Likewise, a tap dancer would have quite a difficult time getting anything done if he had to concentrate on each individual tap of the heal or toe. Musicians, equestrians, athletes, dancers, and most humans for that matter, Jacoby’s definition of muscle memory.
Basketball is a good example for muscle memory. As a player looks at the floor trying to decide to pass, shoot or move up the court, he must be dribbling the ball as well. Because of ‘muscle memory’, the player can dribble the ball without focusing on it, freeing his mind to read a situation and do several calculations instead.
Themes:
Literature on muscle memory covers many aspects; everything from practicing a movement slowly in order gain mastery of the movement when completed quickly to muscles gaining movement information solely from genes (in utero muscle development/memory).
One article compared several studies spanning over thirty years on worms (nematodes). Included in the findings are that tapeworm muscles continue their sinusoidal wave patterns when both the head and tail sections are detached (Jorgensen, 2011). The important thing is that the muscles continued their normal movement as opposed to involuntary jerky motions resulting from electrical impulses.
Big benefits of muscle memory: people who have been physically fit in their past 1) are better able to again be fit, 2) should be less frail as they age (Saey, Muscles Remember Their Strength, 2010). Study findings are that the number of nuclei increase as the muscle works in a repetitive fashion. Even if the muscle becomes detached and withers, the number of nuclei remains the same (Saey, Muscles Can Remember Past Glory, 2010). The DNA template of the muscle actually changed in the workout. In practical terms, following a devastating injury a muscle which is well developed has the capacity to return to its well-developed state. The muscle actually gained memory as it can return to its optimum state not the state is was at birth, for lack of a better comparison.
The illustration of muscle memory in social roles was the most surprising as this model is not given much consideration in general. Richard Shusterman brings to light that some professions require a certain authoritative attitude and carriage. He mentions police officers, judges, and drill sergeants success being partially dependent on the way they carry themselves (Shusterman, 2011). Even if they carry themselves ‘with less purpose’ in their off time, part of their ‘dress’ is actually their carriage. Where muscle memory comes in to play is that their comportment changes automatically when entering the courtroom, squad room or exercise yard.
Shusterman tells the story of a judge who unknowingly brought his courtroom home with him (Shusterman, 2011). After leaving the court room he would go straight home for dinner where he would treat his family as if they were court officers or defendants. He spoke to them in an authoritative manner during the course of the meal and held himself quite apart from them. He did not realize he was doing this until they brought it to his attention. In an attempt to rectify matters, he changed his after work routine, took a different rout home and took time to decompress before having dinner with the family. He had to take off the mantle of authority, part of which was the way he carried himself.
Musician Maxim Rysanov says that he works very hard to develop muscle memory as it enhances his performances and keeps him from worrying so much while performing (Rysanov, 2014). He states that he believes fifty percent of musical intonation is a result of muscle memory, as muscle memory actually delays fatigue for him. He tries to build into his muscle memory places for his muscles to automatically relax, again giving increased longevity.
World-class tennis pro Joe Dinoffer answers questions about muscle memory in a manner anyone can understand. He says memory in muscles is similar to programming in a computer, and that once the muscles learn a task they do not really forget. His common sense example is for you sit in a chair and cross your arms. Notice how comfortable you are in that position. It feels natural. Now uncross your arms and try to cross them in the opposite direction. Once you think about the biomechanics of doing it the opposite way, chances are you feel very awkward in this position. This is a result of neuro pathways for that particular skill being formed. The muscles are not comfortable in that stance because that is not how they learned it; it is not how they were programmed. (Dioffer, 2010)
In contrast to Dioffer, Nancy Armour wrote an article on gymnastics in which she says “It takes months of repetitions to make those skills look effortless yet only a few weeks for that muscle memory to be erased” (Armour, 2015). If we look at the evidence gathered thus far, that statement cannot be proven. Instead, it is more plausible that the gymnast’s body has changed in some manner by growth or additional weight, and therefore doesn’t not respond in exactly the same manner as before.
Lisa Withers is an associate professor of piano at Emory & Henry College. She tells her students there are two types of memory; conscious and unconscious. Unconscious memory is her term for muscle memory, “the memorization of certain physical gestures through repetition” (Music Teachers National Association, 2014). Withers believes that muscle memory is critical to mastering difficult pieces, and interestingly she believes it is also critical to ‘creating instincts’ (Music Teachers National Association, 2014). This belief in echoed many times in articles by music professionals regarding muscle memory. The creative instincts refer to improvisation, and that improv is able to occur because the muscles have memorized the basic movements necessary to perform successfully, allowing the mind to meander and compose on the spot or play from the heart. James Dean reviewed and transcribed performance footage of jazz guitarist Pat Metheny. Dean’s points of interest were the improvised solos. He concluded that because Metheny has mastered all of the mechanical movements required to seamlessly play the guitar, his mind is freed to construct improvisations (Dean, 2014).
Implications:
-muscles of tapeworms do not require a brain or intact nervous system to work in their normal fashion.
-muscles do in fact have memory of their own. They have the ability to repeat, independently, a learned action/skill. This is how we are able to walk, maintain our balance, breathe, etc. How else can this knowledge be applied? Where else in our every-day lives can we find examples of muscle memory?
- muscles are comfortable in ‘learned’ positions.
- muscle memory enables the brain to complete calculations while the body is physically busy performing another task, as evidenced by examples of basketball dribbling and musical improvisation.
Confirming Withers’ statement regarding unconscious memory, wearable technology has proven the ability to teach muscle memory while the mind is occupied with other tasks. Tad Stamer developed a computerized glove, on the top of each finger being small vibrating motors. Wearing the glove for a couple of hours daily, Ariel Bleicher “acquired sufficient muscle memory to play sixty-one notes of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” with hardly any effort” (Schneider, 2014).
Reflection:
Jacoby listed bicycle riding as an example of muscle memory. He says that several years can pass without using that particular skill and not have to think about it. My experience is that getting back on a bicycle after several years requires one to concentrate, even slightly, about staying upright and getting back into the swing, thus disputing it to be a muscle memory issue. On the other hand, once reacquainted with the contraption, it is a nearly effortless endeavor.
Reflecting upon Shusterman’s observations of muscle memory in social roles, one can easily the translate the inferences to interpersonal relationships. There is a person everyone’s life (bully, lover, hero) who affects the way that person carries themselves. When confronting a bully the back may straighten, shoulders square and muscles bunch/tense. Meeting a lover may result in muscle tension being washed away and shoulders drop to a relaxed position. Being in the same room as your hero could result in a hypersensitive or euphoric feeling in which the muscles are in at ‘at ready’ position.
Tables:
Themes
Muscles have the ability to work in learned fashion apart from functioning brain or intact nervous system Nuclei numbers increase in muscles as they develop by repetitive action
Neuro pathways are developed by repetition
Muscle memory is evident in body carriage
Muscle memory allows body to do one thing while brain problems solves
Implications
Muscles have the ability to work in learned fashion apart from brain and central nervous system
Following injury, muscles are able to return to optimal state
Muscles are comfortable in learned positions
Muscles go to learned position based on social situation
Body is able to carry out task at hand while brain is able to work on complex issues
Examples
Brain/nervous system do not need to be intact for tapeworm muscles to work normally
People who are in shape can bounce back after injury
Crossed arms – normally done one way; doing the other way leaves muscles uncomfortable and unsettled Note body’s reaction when around bully, lover, hero
Playing basketball or musical improvisation
References
Armour, Nancy. "Seeking Repeat, Douglas Leaps Back Into Sport." USA Today 27 July 2015.
Baxmann, Inge. "At the Boundaries of the Archive: Movement, Rhythm, and Muscle Memory. A Report on the Tanzarchiv Leipzig." Dance Chronicle 2009: 127-135.
