Muscle Memory

Constance Ash, over in a newsgroup to which we both belong, pointed to this article about feline memory. To sum up the article, a study of memory in cats implies that while they use vision for short term memory, they create longer memory patterns by 'doing.' The scientists placed a three inch high barrier between cats and food, then removed the barrier while distracting the cats. The cats, when going back to the food, still 'stepped over' the barrier, even though it was no longer there...

Doesn't surprise me. We humans use "muscle memory" too. I can play songs that I learned years ago via chord charts, but I can only play them if I don't think about them. My fingers remember the positions and will go to the right place all on their own, but if I actually dare to think "What chord's next?" or try to focus on the fingering, I'm doomed.

Likewise, I can get thrown into a high fall in aikido -- and if it happens fast and sudden, my body just does the fall. It's when I have time to think "OK, how should I fall from this position?" that the fall is hard...

Actively trying to think about such things, or to actively attempt to 'remember' them, actually screws up any chance of success.

Anyone else have that kind of experience?