Move It or Forget It:
How Repetitive Motion
Preserves Memory
an I move?” This question is asked by Robert Redford in the iconic Western movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Redford and Paul Newman portray outlaws who have decided to become honest citizens. Ironically, they apply for jobs requiring the use of their pistols. To test their abilities, Strother Martin, a mining company paymaster, throws a plug of chewing tobacco a dozen yards down the dirt road, hands Redford his six-shooter and asks him to hit the plug with a bullet. When the bullet misses the target, Newman—along with everyone watch- ing the movie—is astounded. It’s the first time in the film Redford has missed anything he’s aimed at. As Martin starts to walk away, Redford asks, “Can I move?”
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Whipping the gun from its holster, he obliterates the tobacco with two direct hits. “I’m better when I move,” Redford explains
casually. This phenomenon, performing an intended action more
suitably when it’s part of a repetitive series of motions, is not just a fictional moment in an old Western movie. It’s something we all perform dozens of times each day. Consider, for instance, all the learned, automatic responses an experienced driver makes while operating a motor vehicle. New drivers can quickly pass written rules and driving tests, but it takes months to acquire the understandings and reactions required to drive safely. This implies that the best thing the parent of a teenage driver can do is to force that newbie to drive constantly until the decisions and actions required to drive become second nature (which also dramati- cally decreases parental anxiety).
Behind the reality of this acquired automatic ability, which
Robinhood Integrative Health Bruce Lantelme, MD
Weston “Wiggy” Saunders, MD Bose Ravenel, MD Elizabeth Bozeman, MD
Kelly Carpenter, NP-C • Christen Duke, NP-C Jenny Addison FNP-C • Gina Davis, FNP-C • Daniel Lackey, FNP-C 336.768.3335
www.RobinhoodIntegrativeHealth.com www.
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3288 Robinhood Road, Suite 202 • Winston-Salem, NC 217106 8
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