Contents:
- Medical Video: Typing Tutorial: Keyboard Basics
- What makes us typing smoothly without looking at the keyboard?
- Understand how muscle memory works
- You don't type with eyes, but with muscles
Medical Video: Typing Tutorial: Keyboard Basics
Everyone has their own style when typing on a computer or laptop. There are people who only look at the screen without needing to pay attention to the keyboard and some are even good at typing without looking at the screen or keyboard at all. He might be able to type while chatting with his coworkers.
How can someone be good at typing like this? While there are also people who are very troubled to determine the location of the button they are looking for, even when they are staring at the keyboard carefully. Well, here is the answer you are looking for.
What makes us typing smoothly without looking at the keyboard?
Technological developments make almost everyone have to be able to type. So, early on the child has been introduced to the keyboard. You might remember that you used to learn to position your fingers on certain letter keys on the keyboard. For example, the little finger to the left hand index finger is in letters A, S, D, and F. While the index finger until your ring finger is in the letters J, K, and L. With this standby position, you will eventually master the entire letter key and function keys on the keyboard.
Apparently, the secret lies in muscle memory. Muscle memory here does not mean the muscles in your fingers have their own memory. Human memory is located only in the brain. So, the brain will record the movements of your fingers when typing and store them properly as a pattern. This is what is called muscle memory. The stronger a person's muscle memory, the smoother the ability to type without having to look at the keyboard. Likewise the opposite.
Understand how muscle memory works
Muscle memory is one of the unique abilities possessed by humans. Muscle memory does not only function to remember finger movements and the location of the letter keys above the keyboard. Starting from entering an ATM pin code, pressing a landline number, to playing the piano and turning on the car's engine also requires good muscle memory. However, usually these things you are not aware of.
In a part of the cerebellum called the cerebellum, every movement will be analyzed and recorded carefully. The cerebellum has a great ability to distinguish which movements or finger positions are wrong and what is right. From there, this part of the cerebellum will memorize the correct movements and store them in long-term memory.
When you are in a similar situation, for example at a computer, the brain immediately takes the memory and sends signals to the nerves and muscles in your fingers. The more movement stored in long-term memory and the faster the brain draws memory from memory, the more smoothly you can type without looking at the keyboard.
You don't type with eyes, but with muscles
The unique way of working muscle memory is proven in a study in the journal Attention, Perception & Physchophysics. In the study, experts tested hundreds of people who were used to typing everyday. Study participants were asked to fill in a blank paper with a sequence of alphabet letters according to their position on the keyboard. Apparently, the average research participant can only remember 15 letters correctly.
This proves that typing is not a visual work, but kinetic. That is, you don't type with the memory recorded by your eyes. It is precisely your muscles that record information into long-term memory.
So, if you want to practice typing skills without looking at the keyboard, don't glare at your keyboard to memorize it. It's best to focus your eyes on the screen and let your fingers work on the keyboard.
