Muscle memory, the cause we can type without looking at the keyboard

Everyone has their own style when typing on a computer or laptop. There are people who just look at the screen without even paying attention to the keyboard and there are those who are even good at typing without even looking at the screen or keyboard at all. He may be able to type while chatting with colleagues.

How can someone be good at typing like this, huh? While there are also people who have a hard time determining the location of the keys they are looking for, even when they have looked at the keyboard carefully. Well, here it is the answer you are looking for.

What makes us typing smoothly without looking at the keyboard?

The development of technology makes almost everyone have to be able to type. So, from an early age children have been introduced to the keyboard. You may remember learning how to position your fingers on certain letter keys on a keyboard in the past. For example, the pinky to the index finger of the left hand is on the letters A, S, D, and F. While your index to ring fingers are on the letters J, K, and L. With this standby position, you will eventually master all the letter keys. and function keys above the keyboard.

Apparently, the secret lies in muscle memory. Muscle memory here doesn't mean the muscles in your fingers have a memory of their own. Human memory is located only in the brain. So, the brain will record the movements of your fingers as you type and save them carefully as a pattern. This is what is called muscle memory. The stronger a person's muscle memory, the smoother the ability to type without having to look at the keyboard. Likewise the opposite.

Understand how muscle memory works

Muscle memory is one of the unique abilities that humans have. Muscle memory functions not only for remembering finger movements and the location of letter keys on the keyboard. From entering an ATM pin code, dialing a landline number, to playing the piano and starting a car engine also requires good muscle memory. However, you usually don't realize these things.

In a part of the cerebellum called the cerebellum, every movement is carefully analyzed and recorded. The cerebellum has a great ability to distinguish between wrong and correct finger movements or positions. From there, this part of the cerebellum will memorize the correct movements and store them in long-term memory.

When you are in a similar situation, for example at a computer, the brain immediately takes the memory and sends signals to the nerves and muscles in your fingers. The more movements that are stored in long-term memory and the faster the brain draws the memory from memory, the more fluently you can type without looking at the keyboard.

You do not type with your eyes, you type with muscles

The unique way in which muscle memory works is proven in a study in the journal Attention, Perception & Physchophysics. In that study, the experts tested hundreds of people who used to type everyday. Research participants were asked to fill in blank paper in the order of the alphabet letters according to their position on the keyboard. As it turned out, the average study participant could only remember 15 letters correctly.

This proves that typing is not a visual job, but kinetic. That is, you are not typing with the memory recorded by your eyes. It is your muscles that record the information in long-term memory.

So, if you want to practice your typing skills without looking at the keyboard, don't glare at your keyboard to memorize it. We recommend that you focus on the screen and let your fingers work on the keyboard.