The relationship between habits and motor skills in humans

Abstract

How do habit and skill relate to one another? Among many traditions of habit research, we suggest that “slips-of-action” habits are the kind most likely to relate to motor skill. Habits are traditionally thought of as a property of behavior as a whole. We suggest, however, that habits are better understood at the level of underlying component computations and, at this level, habits can be considered equivalent to the phenomenon of automaticity in skill learning – improving speed of performance at the cost of flexibility. Lastly, we consider the importance of habits in learning complex tasks given limited cognitive resources and suggest that deliberate practice can be viewed as an iterative process of breaking and restructuring habits to improve performance.

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