It's JUST like Riding a Bike!

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What do we mean when we compare bike-riding to another learned task or activity? As discussed in Chapter 7, it means that we rely on a part of our Procedural Memory, a sub-type of our Implicit Long-Term Memory. "Procedural memory is memory for how to do things, even things we do automatically without thinking about how to do them."
So when else does this Procedural memory kick-in, other than riding a bike? When you're tying your shoe, opening a soda can, or what about when you send a text message? Open a new text message and type "Hey, what's up?" or some other tiresome phrase you use every day, it's simple, right? Now try typing the same thing using a friend's phone that's a totally different model.

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You could even try putting your phone away and remembering where those keys you hit are located --but without moving your fingers. It's pretty difficult, in fact, the only way I can remember their locations is to use my fingers to type the imaginary letters in midair. So, although your procedural memory for location letters on your phone's keypad may be so effortless you could (and probably have) done it in your sleep, your semantic memory for locating them is a whole different story.

I tried coming up with other things I can (and do) do without thinking, I've found when I open my laptop, the windows I immediately open, the websites I immediately check, or how about when you log into a site or server? What else do you use your procedural memory for, "absentmindedly"?

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This page contains a single entry by ziel0068 published on January 25, 2012 1:18 PM.

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