Neuroplasticity and Muscle Memory

by Melinda Burris

Stephen Curry recently set the professional sports world abuzz with his NBA record setting free throw streak of 80 consecutive successful free throws. Also, a viral video appeared not to long ago of him making 105 consecutive corner three-pointers during a practice session. This feat has reinvigorated discussions among coaches and athletes about athletes’ ability to excel at a skill that requires repeated movements, such as shooting a jump shot, or hitting a golf ball, or hitting a baseball, or, for our purposes, clearing a hurdle. The field of study that such ability falls under is called neuroplasticity, commonly referred to as muscle memory. Its implications for elite athletes are quite significant.

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This article discusses what neuroplasticity is and how it creates neural pathways in the brain that signal muscles to react instinctively to complete a motor skill that has become a learned behavior through long hours of practice and repetition.

What is Neuroplasticity?

Neuroplasticity refers to the manner in which the human brain adapts to create a learned behavior after repeated practice of motor skills. Understandably, coaches and trainers who work to instill the mastery of the precise movements and motor skills their particular sport revolves around know the value of neuroplasticity in acquiring the ability to perform seamlessly.¹

How Does Neuroplasticity Work?

Here the old adage “practice makes perfect” comes into play. The brain tends to learn new motor skills at a rapid rate until a plateau is reached. When this occurs, the individual must practice even more to preserve the acquired motor skill. Body movements are controlled by the brain as it sends an electrical signal to the muscles.¹

Ian Dobbs is a Ph.D. student in Wales, UK and his area of expertise is research into maturation, performance and tools for injury screening of youth cricket players. Dobbs explains the way this communication between the brain and muscles works in this way:
The speed, accuracy, and efficiency of [the brain signal] is dependent on many factors, one of which includes practice. Our brain refines a motor neuron pathway the more we practice a skill but will also reduce that same pathway if we fail to use it. Simply put, we become more skilled at tasks we do often and can have that same skill “fade away” if we fail to practice it.”¹

Experts commonly refer to the need to continue practicing a learned skill be it a foreign language or a move on the track as humans having a “use it or lose it brain.”² When we cease to regularly do the motions or actions our brain has created neural pathways to adapt to so we can perform in a certain way, those same neural pathways breakdown in a process known as synaptic pruning. When this occurs, the brain loses the ability to recall the once learned action and our ability to perform as before is lost.²

Neuroplasticity and Training

Coaches and trainers must bear in mind that the brain adapts and creates these neural pathways to create learned behavior whether it is correct or not. Constant repetition of a certain way of performing an exercise becomes reinforced by the brain. If the athlete is performing the exercise correctly, this is a good thing. However, if the athlete is not being trained in the right way or is not corrected when they continually perform a movement incorrectly, the brain creates neural pathways that reinforce this counterproductive behavior, and a bad habit is formed. This behavior can be unlearned, and the brain can be retrained, but the process is often difficult and time consuming.¹

When training, it is vital that fundamental motor skills be broken down into steps; this allows the athlete to learn the correct way to perform each motion one movement at a time and as each step is learned, another is added until the athlete can combine all steps into one correct movement. This approach to teaching also allows trainers and coaches to watch carefully and pick up on mistakes in execution and correct them early on before they become a learned behavior.³

The 3 Stages of Motor Skill Acquisition

1.    Encoding: This stage occurs during the period of fast learning (before a plateau is reached) and happens most often while training. Encoding refers to the moment that the muscle motion “is converted from an experience to a construct that is stored in the brain.”⁴

2. Consolidation: This stage occurs when the athlete is not training. In fact, sleep is crucial in this stage for this is when skill learning is fused in the brain, allowing the creation of the neural pathway.⁴
3. Retention and Recall: The retention stage occurs both during training and during breaks in training. Retention results in the learned skill becoming muscle memory, an action that is done automatically, putting the athlete who has learned to retain a necessary competitive skill at a great advantage over a competitor who must concentrate to remember how to perform that same skill. Once an athlete has mastered a learned skill to the point of retention and recall, the action has become second nature and appears seamless.⁴

Negative Neuroplasticity

Dr. Norman Doidge, author of the book, The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science, explores negative neuroplasticity, a phenomenon he refers to as the “plastic paradox.”⁴ Dr. Doidge explains this paradox is a reference to the fact “that the same neuroplastic properties that allow us to produce more flexible behaviors can also allow us to produce more rigid ones.”²

As children, we are born with great potential for plasticity. However, as we grow older, the learned behaviors that served us well when we were younger and learning to master a particular skill can devolve into rigid behavior that makes us unhealthy creatures of habit.²

The takeaway here is that repetition for a purpose such as learning a necessary skill to compete athletically can be a good and positive thing. However, when we slip into a repetitious routine in all aspects of our lives, we lose the ability to be flexible and remain open to new experiences and ways of thinking.²

The lesson here is that moderation is key.

Here’s the YouTube video of Steph Curry making 105 three-pointers in a row.

References

1. Dobbs, I. (March 4, 2018). Neuroplasticity.
2. Hampton, D. (Nov. 17, 2017). 3 Ways Negative Neuroplasticity Hurts You.
3. Physiopedia. (2021). Fundamental Motor Skills and Sports Specific Skills.
4. Halo Neuroscience. (March 17, 2016). The Athlete’s Guide to the Brain: Motor Skill Learning.

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