The secret to mastering a skill is reconsolidation
REUTERS
Britain's Andy Murray hits a shot during a practice session at Melbourne Park, Australia, January 17, 2016.
Though oft debated, the 10,000 hour rule (expertise in any skill requires 10,000 hours of practice) has been the dominant theory in the field of skill learning for years now. A research paper published in Current Biology dated February 8, 2016, however, suggests that all those hours might not be necessary after all, as reconsolidation could practically double the speed at which learning happens.
“In our study we showed that introducing subtle modifications during the subsequent training sessions lead to better performance later on. We think this is due to brain learning more from the slightly modified task,” said senior study author Pablo A. Celnik, M.D., professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in an email interview. “This concept is supported by the finding that those subjects who were able to adjust better to the subtle modified task expressed better learning the following day,” he added.
The study, which was conducted on 86 healthy volunteers, involved learning a computer-based motor skill. Instead of using a mouse, volunteers had to squeeze a device called a force transducer to move the cursor across the monitor.
Split into three groups, volunteers from the first group completed the initial training schedule and followed it up six hours later (time believed needed to consolidate memories) with the same routine. Those from the second group went through a tweaked second session six hours later wherein the individuals had to adjust their performance ever so slightly, even though they were unaware of the modifications. The third “control” group skipped the second session altogether.
When the participants returned the next day to perform the same task, it was observed that those who were part of the second group were nearly twice as fast and accurate at it, when compared to those from the first group. The third group were found to be 25 per cent worse off than those in the first group.
“The modification was subtle to the point that subjects did not become aware that they were practicing a slightly different task,” said Celnik, before adding that “there is still much to learn about the optimal modification that needs to be manipulated to accelerate learning.”
Even though it is still too early to suggest that there is a specific formula that needs to be followed, Celnik believes that subtle variations in natural conditions might already be accounting for better learning.
“For instance, when learning to play tennis it is possible that after practicing on a sunny day, a practice on a rainy day where ball and ground conditions are different, might be enough to lead to better execution of the task in subsequent practice sessions. Different skills will need to determine the best way to introduce subtle variations,” he stated.
While strengthening skill learning might be one aspect of it, this finding has important implications in the case of rehabilitation as well, especially when there is a limited time frame. “In rehabilitation, patients have to train different motor tasks to regain function,” Celnik said.
“Regardless of how the rehab training is focused, we think that using the slight modification strategy over multiple training sessions might be beneficial to speed up how patients regain function (via new or old skills). This is because any skill learning should go through the process of consolidation and reconsolidation,” he added.
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