Meaning of muscle memory | Babel Free

Definitions

The ability to reproduce a particular movement using subconscious neuromuscular control which is acquired as a result of the physiological adaptation of the body to repetition of the movement.

countable, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“For just as there is a memory of sensory impressions, of the sights we have seen and the sounds we have heard, so is there a memory of motor acts, of the movements we have performed, and of the mode in which we have accomplished them. We have a sense memory and a muscle memory, and ideally revived movements form a no less important element in our mental stores and process than ideally revived sensations.”

“In fighting we have an illustration of muscle-memory. A fistic encounter calls forth as diversified and complicated a series of activities as almost any species of manual labor, but a ten-year-old boy of fighting stock will stand up to his first fight and play his part with a skill and address and promptitude such as he could not acquire in any industrial pursuit without considerable training.”

“Let any one watch himself in writing slowly, and he will perceive that the words flow from the pen under the suggestive influence of a series of mental images. […] Let him write more rapidly, and these images fade to mere suggestions of themselves; yet some clew remains by means of which an automatic series of muscle memories is aroused and the hand is guided in the correct motion.”

“I said that one can move a muscle only if one has an inherent muscle memory which has been stored in the brain at some previous time.”

“My shadow / Change is coming / Now is my time / Listen to my muscle memory / Contemplate what I've been clinging to / Forty six and two ahead of me”

“Your body schema is also informed by a library of what many people call "muscle memories," although the term is rather inaccurate. These memories actually reside in the brain's motor maps, not down in the muscles proper, as the term would seem to suggest. These muscle memories give you an intuitive understanding about how your body is able to move and what it is capable of. This implicit knowledge includes things like how far you can bend over, what parts of your back you can reach with your hands, and what objects on the dinner table are within arm's reach without leaning.”

“The key is muscle memory and automating one's responses. By constant repetition, soldiers learn exactly how their kit is organized and laid out, how to quickly tie their boots in the morning, where and how magazines are stored in the tactical (tac) vest, how to access each pouch on their kit without looking at it. All of these movements become mostly unconscious.”

“Most people easily understand an example of what is called muscle memory as it applies to sports. If we didn't have muscle memory, athletes would have to relearn how to shoot a basket, hit a baseball, or throw a football each time they played a game. Muscles have memories and, with practice, the actions they perform can be done without thought.”

CEFR level