Page 62 - Mind Games The Aging Brain and How to Keep it Healthy

46 • Chapter 2

Photo courtesy of Amy Aldrich

Automatic Motor Response

Ball Room Dancing is an example of automatic motor re-
sponse (AMR). Sharon Mulgrew and Bryan Umeki have prac-
ticed their dancing so often that they now are operating from
AMR. At the beginning, they had to concentrate deeply to learn
the movements. It is this AMR feature of their brains that allows
them to finally enjoy dancing.

While learning to drive, one of the authors’ sisters com-
plained that is was hard to work the manual transmission.
Her dad quipped that it would be hard at the beginning, but
after a while, it would become automatic.
Some activities are performed so often that they become
automatic motor responses (such as actions performed by a
skilled typist or pianist). The reactions are too quick for true
interaction between the stimulus (typing an “a”) and the
reasoning abilities (Where is the letter “a” on a keyboard?
There it is. Hit it.). When children first begin to write, the
shapes and drawing mechanisms for each letter are matters
of intense concentration. After years of practice, writing be-
comes automatic. The movements are stored in memory as