Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/YuySgR0brbM If you are trying to teach yourself new skills, either physical or mental, give your brain a short break during the learning process.  Neurophysiologists at the National Institutes of Health make this recommendation after analyzing the brain activity of volunteers as they master the task of reproducibly pressing a series of keys. The scientists noted that brain wave activity which signals the cementing of behaviors into memory was more intense during short rest periods between skill practice sessions.  The subjects performed incrementally better when their initial mastery and practice sessions were interrupted by short rest periods compared with intense practice sessions followed by a night off and re-testing in the morning. So, if you are trying to perfect a skill, learn it and practice it for awhile, then take a break, and the return to practice.  After several cycles, you should be able to optimize your performance and make it reproducible. Marlene Bönstrup, Iñaki Itur