muscle memory meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

muscle memory

noun

UK /ˌmʌsl̩ ˈmɛm(ə)ɹi/ · US /ˈmʌs(ə)l ˈmɛmɚi/

Etymology PIE word *múHs From muscle + memory. First attested in 1892.

Medicine, Physiology, Sciences The ability to reproduce a particular movement using subconscious neuromuscular control which is acquired as a result of the physiological adaptation of the body to repetition of the movement.

For just as there is a memory of sensory impressions, of the sights we have seen and the sounds we have heard, so is there a memory of motor acts, of the movements we have performed, and of the mode in which we have accomplished them. We have a sense memory and a muscle memory, and ideally revived movements form a no less important element in our mental stores and process than ideally revived sensations.1883, J[ames] Crichton[-]Browne, “Education and the Nervous System”, in Malcolm [Alexander] Morris, editor, The Book of Health, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, […], →OCLC, page 326:
In fighting we have an illustration of muscle-memory. A fistic encounter calls forth as diversified and complicated a series of activities as almost any species of manual labor, but a ten-year-old boy of fighting stock will stand up to his first fight and play his part with a skill and address and promptitude such as he could not acquire in any industrial pursuit without considerable training.1892 November 25, C. F. Amery, “Instinct”, in Science: An Illustrated Journal […], volume XX, number 512, New York, N.Y.: N. D. C. Hodges, →OCLC, page 302, column 1:

4 more examples

Let any one watch himself in writing slowly, and he will perceive that the words flow from the pen under the suggestive influence of a series of mental images. […] Let him write more rapidly, and these images fade to mere suggestions of themselves; yet some clew remains by means of which an automatic series of muscle memories is aroused and the hand is guided in the correct motion.1893 July 25–28 (date delivered), Adelaide E. Wyckoff, “Constitutional Bad Spellers”, in N. A. Calkins, editor, Proceedings of the International Congress of Education of the World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, July 25–28, 1893 […], New York, N.Y.: [National Education] Association, published 1894, →OCLC, page 762:
I said that one can move a muscle only if one has an inherent muscle memory which has been stored in the brain at some previous time.1922 August 12, Charles G. Stivers, “Need of Standards of Training for Specialists, General Practitioners and Teachers of Speech Correction”, in George H[enry] Simmons, editor, The Journal of the American Medical Association, volume 79, number 7, Chicago, Ill.: American Medical Association, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 535, column 1:
My shadow / Change is coming / Now is my time / Listen to my muscle memory / Contemplate what I've been clinging to / Forty six and two ahead of me1995 September – 1996 March (date recorded), Danny Carey, Justin Chancellor, Adam Jones, Maynard James Keenan, “Forty Six & 2”, in Ænima, performed by Tool, New York, N.Y.: Volcano Entertainment, published 17 September 1996, →OCLC:
Your body schema is also informed by a library of what many people call "muscle memories," although the term is rather inaccurate. These memories actually reside in the brain's motor maps, not down in the muscles proper, as the term would seem to suggest. These muscle memories give you an intuitive understanding about how your body is able to move and what it is capable of. This implicit knowledge includes things like how far you can bend over, what parts of your back you can reach with your hands, and what objects on the dinner table are within arm's reach without leaning.2007, Sandra Blakeslee, Matthew Blakeslee, “Dueling Body Maps”, in The Body has a Mind of Its Own: How Body Maps in Your Brain Help You Do (Almost) Everything Better, trade paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →ISBN, pages 29 and 32:

Bodybuilding, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports The ability to regain lost muscle size and strength much faster than initially building it, due to retained muscle nuclei.

Related terms: like riding a bike