Motor memory: classification, features, development

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

Stand up and walk from one corner of the apartment to the other. Surely this happened quickly and you did not make much effort for this. In addition, most likely, you were thinking at that moment about what was happening and why to do it. Or just imagined the upcoming dinner with the family.

We are not aware of many processes that occur in our body and mind. After all, they just are. Is this not enough?

We breathe by inertia. We remember the way home by inertia. We walk and run by inertia. We know what our friends and relatives look like, we remember their names. In all these processes, memory is actively used. But usually we remember and directly interact with it during the session and in other situations when a large amount of information needs to be remembered in a short time.

However, if you think more deeply and thoroughly, you can come to the conclusion that without memory we would not be much different from a stone on the road. Imagine if every day after waking up you have to learn to walk again, learn the language, meet relatives, and every day again and again study yourofficial duties. Sounds depressing.

But it's not fantasy. This is how our life would go if it were not for the ability of the brain to store information.

Memory is the ability to retain and reproduce in the mind a store of knowledge, experience and impressions. It operates in all areas of our life. Nothing happens without her participation.

Types of memory

1. Emotional - the ability to retain and reproduce any of our sensations and feelings. We remember those events that caused us vivid emotions, both negative and positive.
2. Figurative - the ability to remember and recreate images of objects and phenomena. This species works with our senses (smell, touch, hearing, sight).
3. Motor (motor) memory - the ability of a person to fix and reproduce movements and systems of actions, forming skills.
4. Verbal-logical - the ability to remember and convey thoughts, judgments and conclusions. This ability is unique to man and distinguishes him from animals.

On the Internet you can find many descriptions and ways to develop figurative and verbal-logical memory. Emotional memory is studied in acting courses, but little is written about and rarely spoken about motor memory.

Motor memory

At the moment, the opinions of researchers differ. Although motor memory is listed in psychology, it does not have a clear and fixed definition. There is inconsistency in the use of terms in the specialized literature. And this leads to a distortion of information, which can lead to incorrect conclusions.

Each author conducted a study of motor memory, based on their beliefs and by virtue of their understanding. Some associate it with the memorization of movements, others attribute it to visual-figurative and compare it with the memorization of movements and the memorization of motor sensations. Still others believe that it functions at the expense of other types of memory. Each of these opinions has its own grain of truth, and so far we cannot say for sure who is right and who is not.

Motor activity

The area of responsibility of motor memory is very large: from simple manual labor and moving the body in space to jewelry work with the surgeon's fingers during the operation. Motor activity is based on the interaction of two directions. The first direction includes receptors in muscles, joint capsules and tendon organs, which transmit a signal through the spinal cord up to different parts of the brain.

The second stream works from the brain to the muscles and gives a signal to take action. Signals from these areas form a special type of susceptibility, thanks to which the brain understands what position the muscles and joints are in. This is how the schema or image of the body is formed. Without this state, a person would not be able to perform a single action.

The psychophysiology of motor memory is based on the formation of engrams and goes through three stages. An engram is a memory trail or physical habit that results from learning:

1. Based on workanalyzers, a short-term trace arises, which forms ultra-short-term memory.
2. Information from short-term memory enters the higher parts of the brain, where it is analyzed, sorted and processed to reveal new information for the body.
3. New information enters long-term memory.

Forms of information storage

Some actions we remember all our lives, while others we forget the next day. Memory is short-term and long-term, involuntary and arbitrary:

1. Short-term motor memory - movements are remembered for a short time. For example, while dancing, you learn new movements, they enter the temporary storage department, and if they are not repeated from time to time, they will be completely forgotten, and if they are repeated, they will go into long-term memory.
2. Long-term - actions persist for a long time, or for life. For example, the ability to walk, jump, run.
3. Arbitrary memory - assimilation occurs with the help of intentional effort.
4. Involuntary - automatic memorization.

The role of memory in human life

What is the main purpose of motor memory? Why is it needed:

1. The formation of basic human skills: writing, walking, swimming, which we learn in childhood.
2. It is important in professions that require precision and speed of movement: surgeon, jeweler, etc.
3. It is very important for athletes, dancers, drivers and musicians to develop motor memory in order toperform actions automatically.
4. Gives you the opportunity to focus not on actions, but on information. For example, when typing text on a computer, a person focuses not on the keys, but on the information.
5. Used to improve thinking processes, it frees up space for fresh tasks.

Key characteristics of motor memory

• accuracy - the correct repetition of actions;
• volume - the number of movements that you can learn and recreate;
• resistance - how much learning and repetition deteriorates under the influence of distractions;
• strength - how long you remember the movement and can make it.

Special exercises for motor memory are aimed at developing and improving these indicators.

Why train memory

We are constantly learning some skills and setting more and more new tasks for motor memory. When you learn a new hobby, the brain will remember the repetitive actions, and with each repetition of the movement you will get better. In order for this process to go faster, and the development of a new skill to be more effective, it is worth allocating time for special training.

You can develop motor memory both with the help of special exercises and directly in everyday life. These methods work both individually and in combination.

General development of motor memory

1. Get enough sleep at night. Sleep regenerates the brain.
2. Do sports or dance. Physical activity saturates the brain with oxygen, and also develops motor memory.
3. Eat a varied and balanced diet. With food, the brain receives the necessary trace elements and substances that are necessary for its work.
4. If you are learning a skill, hone it regularly. This will help to consolidate the effect and strengthen the memory mechanisms.

Exercise to develop direction memory

1. Sit on a chair and fasten a sheet of paper in front of your face.
2. Close your eyes and draw a dot on paper with a pencil.
3. Remove your hands from the sheet for three seconds.
4. Try again to hit the same place on the paper.
5. Open your eyes and compare the results: two dots should be in the same place.

Memory strength training

1. Complete steps 1 and 2 of the direction memory exercise.
2. Remove your hands, swing your arms in circles, twist and shake your hands.
3. Follow steps 4 and 5 from the previous one. With regular practice, your gestures will become clearer and more precise.

Exercise to remember distances

1. Fix the sheet to the table surface so that it does not move.
2. Close your eyes and draw a line from left to right.
3. Remove your hands for a couple of seconds.
4. Draw another near the same line as the first one.
5. Open your eyes, measure the lines and analyze the difference. They must be the same length.

Exercise for volumetric spatial thinking

1. Draw three lines of different lengths under each other.
2. After a couple of seconds, repeat the action in the same order.
3. Check if they match.

Memory stability exercise

1. Draw the lines of the first game as in the spatial thinking exercise.
2. Move your hands and increase the time between drawing.
3. Make a second batch of lines. Compare.

Exercise for accuracy and accuracy of gestures

1. Fix the sheet either on the table or on the wall.
2. Put your elbow on the leaf, then lower your forearm and hand.
3. Close your eyes.
4. Without lifting your elbow and without using your wrist, circle your forearm and draw an arc on the paper.
5. Return your arms to the starting position and draw another arc. They must match.

Motor memory plays an important role in our life, and maybe even one of the main ones. With its help, all our actions are meaningful. When you're rollerblading in the park with friends, typing a comment on this article or racing around the track - remember that you owe all this to just one small function of our smart body, which conscientiously performs its duties. If you want to live a meaningful life and remain cheerful and active until old age, help your body and mind! Do everything in your power to keep ituptime as long as possible!