Neural plasticity, muscle memory learning- in sleep: do you think of skating, cycling, etc.?

[shootingstar]

Not sure if you can get into this link. About a 60-yr. guy who wants to ice skate better for hockey.  In pursuit of the perfect stride, I trained with a world-class skating coach - and it worked - The Globe and Mail

His skating is coached by a former Olympic figure skater.  Various techniques and below how the brain learns on new movements.

According to a neuroscientist, Gallucci:

 

But the brain “doesn’t care about your goals, your hopes, your dreams.” It cares about its own survival as an organism. It is content with the status quo. This is especially true as we age.

So the brain by its nature sets up hurdles. How to overcome?

Part of it is the mindset. The self-belief. Gallucci said he has encountered many people even at age 30 with a self-limiting belief structure about their ability to learn new things or adopt new tasks.

Part of it is the consistency and repetition. “Consistency over time is critical to creating the neuroplastic changes that we need,” he says.

Gallucci has taken part in a project in which imaging machines showed how the brains of professional athletes are wired in real time. “The thing that makes an athlete an athlete when it comes to this sort of skill acquisition is the efficiency of movement.” The brain, he said, craves efficiency. Consistency drives the emergence of efficiency.

And you want to keep it fun. That activates reward centres in the brain, which makes it more likely your brain will adopt the behaviour.

Also, visualization helps. Watching, say, 10 minutes a day of good skating. He calls this “hacking the system.” “You can actually build the fibres [in neural networks] because large portions of the brain don’t know the difference between whether you’re doing it or not doing it.”

And the visualization continues when you sleep. You learn while you sleep. “When you’re trying to build skill acquisition, that mostly happens during sleep.” He likens this process to a tennis match between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Among different parts of the brain, “there’s a banter at night that goes back and forth ... that solidifies the learning.”

 

[shootingstar]

Do I think/dream about the act of cycling?  Yes and usually makes me happy.

So treasure your ability to bicycle and get out on the bike soon!   

1 of the Chicago bloggers who I will visit this fall, has  wanted to learn bicycle. She actually went on vacation to see several stages of TdF in France last yr. or so.  She created youtube videos..etc.  Yea, incredible.

She doesn't want to now, probably because she is in her 60's.  

I've had women comment to me over the years, how much they wished they knew how to bicycle.  

 

[jsharr ★]

I will ask my buddy Mike about this.  I will let you know his thoughts.
 

If you go read his bio you will note that he lists Eagle Scout.  I think that is so very cool.

 

[maddmaxx ★]

I believe in this.  I used to practice drag racing starts away from the track as a sort of dreamlike state behind closed eyes.  Professional drag racers these days practice in the hauler with a miniature tree to improve their reaction time.  The nerve pathways you are building up may not even be in the brain.  Reflex actions such as burning your hand take place before the brain even knows about it as they are rerouted directly to the muscles before they arrive at the brain.

 

[Johnny Come Lately Name]

Does dreaming about arguing with @Ralphie about semicolon use count?

(for real )

[12string]

Ii dunno, maybe my brain is mixing up the great ones.   I've been watching Gretzky for years but I still play hockey like Steven Hawking

[Razors Edge ★]

2 hours ago, shootingstar said:

And the visualization continues when you sleep. You learn while you sleep. “When you’re trying to build skill acquisition, that mostly happens during sleep.” He likens this process to a tennis match between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Among different parts of the brain, “there’s a banter at night that goes back and forth ... that solidifies the learning.”

Is there an explanation of this in the article?  And is that related to "dreaming" or "sleeping" and what type of sleep and how would one get the brain to work on that rather than the argument with a coworker, the pending tax filing, the weird smell in the garage, or the vacation next week?

[Square Wheels]

2 hours ago, shootingstar said:

Do I think/dream about the act of cycling?

all of my dreams involve @Kzoo, three quarts of rum raisin ice cream, and a weed whacker.

[shootingstar]

This sleeping thing is in addition to in - person coaching  and doing various skating technique drills.  So it would be thinking of good cycling form and using gears properly : all those movements while balanced on bike in your sleep.  Also ideally you are happy to do those movements because your body gets stoked from those movements. Getting muscle memory.

[MoseySusan]

I do think about neural plasticity. It’s why I study other languages, force myself to type on the phone with both thumbs, brush my teeth with my left hand a few times a week, keep trying to play guitar, skip, volleyball, bowl, and climb. And ride a bicycle. 

[Razors Edge ★]

6 minutes ago, shootingstar said:

This sleeping thing is in addition to in

All humans sleep. I'm wondering about the "while you sleep, think about this" part.  Some folks slept with a book under their pillow. Some maybe played an audiobook while they slept. Others maybe did some other method.

But in the end, I'm hoping to hear the one that works and/or was used in by the folks in the article.

[shootingstar]

1 hour ago, Razors Edge said:

All humans sleep. I'm wondering about the "while you sleep, think about this" part.  Some folks slept with a book under their pillow. Some maybe played an audiobook while they slept. Others maybe did some other method.

But in the end, I'm hoping to hear the one that works and/or was used in by the folks in the article.

The neuroscientist was merely stating that we bring into our memory sometimes in sleep, new good/improved body movements from repeatedly learning while awake being coached /doing those new/better body movements.  

Yea, I've heard about the book under pillow.  And playing audiobook..which wouldn't really work on me.  I learn best by simultaneously seeing, hearing and moving the learned skill. Even at uni lectures, I had to make notes to commit to some understanding of something new I learned from prof.

Can you get into the article link?  If you can, then scroll down a tad to see article photo/link for text.

[shootingstar]

2 hours ago, MoseySusan said:

I do think about neural plasticity. It’s why I study other languages, force myself to type on the phone with both thumbs, brush my teeth with my left hand a few times a week, keep trying to play guitar, skip, volleyball, bowl, and climb. And ride a bicycle. 

I'm a lazy bum --haven't yet returned to any fitness classes this year  -- after my frenzied class participation last Nov.  Right now, am waiting to see if instructor will give us a list of required art supplies several days before lst class. Usually this is the protocol for other art courses I've taken.

So far in terms of other body-brain tasks:   it's minor reading, meeting/spending time socializing with new and long-time friends, working through finance numbers, films, some lectures and art gallery visits.  So it's more new content.

That said, took some time to return to blogging.  For that, my heart and brain juice must work together. Having a few recent photos can help trigger ideas. Or the reverse, ideas cause rummaging into (too) big personal photo collection.  

I don't want to get into typing with both hands on iphone:  I have a good local friend who seriously caused carpal tunnel syndrome 'cause of heavy iphone texting daily. She had to take disability leave for a few months away from work. She barely could drive during recovery.   Now, cannot golf nor wants to bike anymore.  She used to love doing both.  She is approx. 8-10 yrs. younger than I.

[shootingstar]

@jsharr I found this assessment manual for professionals like him:  How to Assess the Motor System - Neurologic Disorders - MSD Manual Professional Edition (msdmanuals.com)   Just reading some of the neurolocomotor disorders is reminder what we have to look forward in very old age --unless we do stuff to reduce rapid decline.

[12string]

The book under the pillow really works!  I tried it once, and really learned a LOT without having to read a page while awake!

It was a medical study called "disrupting sleep patterns by employing uncomfortable pillows"

[shootingstar]

29 minutes ago, 12string said:

The book under the pillow really works!  I tried it once, and really learned a LOT without having to read a page while awake!

It was a medical study called "disrupting sleep patterns by employing uncomfortable pillows"

    Um...it would be disruptive to me.  I'm trying to sleep  longer every night. My sleep has been disrupted over the past decade and more.  It has been a long process.  

[BR46]

5 hours ago, maddmaxx said:

I believe in this.  I used to practice drag racing starts away from the track as a sort of dreamlike state behind closed eyes.  Professional drag racers these days practice in the hauler with a miniature tree to improve their reaction time.  The nerve pathways you are building up may not even be in the brain.  Reflex actions such as burning your hand take place before the brain even knows about it as they are rerouted directly to the muscles before they arrive at the brain.

Maxx when you were racing did the races seem to be in slow motion? 

I remember all my crashes in slow motion and parts of the races are in slow motion as I'm doing them. 

I play reaction time games on line and play speed games on line to keep my reflexes up.

 

[Longjohn ★]

4 hours ago, MoseySusan said:

brush my teeth with my left hand a few times a wee

That’s ok a few times a week as long as you use a toothbrush the rest of the week.

[BR46]

4 hours ago, MoseySusan said:

keep trying to play guitar

What type of music do you like to play...I like playing blues 

4 hours ago, MoseySusan said:

brush my teeth with my left hand a few times a wee

I force myself to shave, brush my teeth and other things left handed just to try to keep things sharp. 

[shootingstar]

My brain naturally wake-ups differently whenever  I must understand and speak Chinese. 

Happens whenever talking with mother or just last wk. at hair salon, where it's run by Chinese-Canadians. My stylist suddenly spoke my dialect interspersed among English paragraphs.  I managed to respond and understand 90%, which to me, is good.  Basic daily conversation.  Meanwhile another employee walked over and said in a different dialect, that she found it confusing to hear my dialect and English intermingled.

I said to her that is what real life is like, in some families.  For decades.  She would have been a recent immigrant as an adult.

I realize:  my mother tongue fluency will probably degrade alot after mother dies.