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Is there a word or a phrase for this phenomenon? When something becomes a habit requiring no thought at all and then, when forced to actually think about it, the brain draws a complete blank?



What a great poem:

“A centipede was happy – quite!

Until a toad in fun

Said, "Pray, which leg moves after which?"

This raised her doubts to such a pitch,

She fell exhausted in the ditch

Not knowing how to run.“


Check out the Backwards Brain Bicycle. Lots of fun.

https://youtu.be/MFzDaBzBlL0


Isn't it just muscle memory? Like how it is difficult to switch back and forth between a Qwerty keyboard and a Dvorak keyboard, except with the addition of balance thrown in.


This is worth a watch, from Smarter Every Day.


Personally I call this « playing piano », as I’m not sure I’ve ever gotten passed this stage when practicing..


In classical music at least it's often referred to as a "memory lapse"


Your comment got me looking into the phenomenon, and I found this great article: https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1994-07-17-19941981...

From 1994!


Wonderful article, great find!

And I like being reminded of the great pressure many creative spirits feel. It's serious business, managing pressure and also doing your work.


Would love to read if anyone has it mirrored? Looks like the original article isn't available for EU market.


Maybe one of these two will work:

https://outline.com/SeEEHt

https://archive.is/D05nu

For the future, you can usually create these for yourself by going to top of the sites that I linked.


Works great! Also on other sites, thanks for the tip.


Some refer to it as an effect of muscle memory. Something you can do effortlessly, but can't actually describe how to another person.


That and, apologies in advance, the phenomenon of 'manual breathing'.


Emacs!




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