Why do we never lose certain skills we have learned, even if we haven’t practiced them for a long time. like for example riding a bicycle, and we lose some, like a new language we learned 10 years ago but can’t remember anything about it now?
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It’s because of something called procedural memory and the activation of mirror neurons. The neural process for learning to ride a bike is stored in procedural memory areas of the brain. There are two ways to learn things that require procedural memory. The first way is to perform the action yourself, such as riding a bike over and over and over and over again. The second way to learn is to watch someone else do the same activity such as riding a bike. Fmri research has shown that the same areas of the brain are activated when a person rides a bike and also when a person watches someone else ride a bike. Things that require procedural memory include getting dressed, brushing teeth, walking, playing sports, playing an instrument, using a drill gun and on and on. So when we walk about our days and watch other people do things like ride a bike the mirror neurons activate and we in a virtual sense in our brain practice riding a bike. So if we compare how many times we see someone else doing something that requires procedural memory versus how many times we practice a foreign language, for most of us the amount of opportunities in a day to see things that require procedural memory is vastly higher. Thus, because of our years of virtual practice watching another person riding a bike, we are able to quickly “remember” how to ride a bike and perform it at a similar competence level within a short time like 30 to 60 seconds.
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