Practice May Not Make Perfect!

Interestingly, rote practice, the kind of practice in which you do something over and over, may not gain you much.  Mixing in a variety of skills, however, will. The idea that practice does not necessarily make perfect seems paradoxical, and it relates to the way your brain functions. 

Practicing variable skills antes up retention of the skill.  It's so, because each time golfers use a different club or vary a shot, they solve the motor problem anew... and perhaps from a fresh perspective. 

Problem solving engages the brain's prefrontal cortex, associated with higher level learning.  Some folks have no idea that sports skills reach to higher cognition in the brain, especially when some folks refer to high school athletes as "jocks." 

I'm an avid golfer.  At our local course, I noticed some golfers spend a great deal of time hitting a drive, over and over, at a golf range.  According to USC and UCLA research findings, doing the same skill over and over, leads to a lesser degree of retention - since repetition engages the primary motor cortex, associated with simple motor learning.

"We gravitate toward a simple, rote practice structure because we're basically lazy, and we don't want to work hard," Carolee Winstein, a USC researcher on the study reports.

A lot of what we do learn comes through observing how others accomplish a skill.  "Imitation learning," according to Robert Sekuler, Brandeis neuroscientist, "is crucial for acquiring many of the skills used in daily life."  It's the "monkey see, monkey do" principle.  Trick is... to duplicate that in your own life.  Try doing it yourself - shortly after giving yourself enough observation time to capture nuances involved - while these are still in the brain's working memory.  That's critical!

You can see why smart problem solving's needed to acquire a motor skill!  My practice sessions will be revamped - that's for sure.

How would you rate the methods you've used to lift up your kinesthetic skills?