Learning a new skill
To master a skill:Practice it until you reach the stage where actions follow automaticallyPractice more efficiently, by: varying your actionsproviding immediate feedbackspacing out your...
View ArticleAction Slips
There is a very common form of forgetfulness that is not really a failure of memory. When we get in our car to drive to place A and find ourselves instead on the road to the more familiar place B, this...
View ArticleMultitasking
Doing more than one task at a time requires us to switch our attention rapidly between the tasks.This is easier if the tasks don't need much attention.Although we think we're saving time, time is lost...
View ArticleForgetting a skill or procedure
Memory for skills — procedural memory — is stored as action sequences, in our unconscious memory.Because this type of memory is very reliable, failures are usually particularly puzzling and even...
View ArticleMore about motor memory
I don’t often talk about motor or skill memory — that is, the memory we use when we type or drive a car or play the piano. It’s one of the more mysterious domains of memory. We all know, of course,...
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