The Theory of Muscle Memory

Studies have shown(Adkins et al.，2006)that human memory，especially the memory of theoretical knowledge，is associated with the cerebral cortex.However，memory in sports has its own particularities，and does not rely entirely on the cerebral cortex.Sports performance requires the involvement of both the motor cortex and limb muscle movement.Sports performance shows that the human body can complete various actions without conscious effort by the brain.If too many conscious brain commands are involved，the actions will become abnormal.Many of the movements are performed by conditioned muscle reflexes，which also known as muscle memory(Gundersen，2016).

Starting from the initiation of the cerebral cortex，the actions that have been mastered receive information about joint position，muscle length，tension and so on from receptors in the muscle itself;and immediately these actions start the spinal interneurons according to the already established“inertia”program or directly go to A or Y motor neurons;all this generates a certain impulse，causing a series of muscle movements to complete the mastered actions.Muscle memory function is a series of less cerebral consciousness-controlled programmatic and automated activities from sensory stimulation，nerve impulses，and muscle contraction.It can be seen that the muscles of the human body have a memory effect，and after repeated repetitions of the same action，the muscles will form a conditioned reflex.The speed at which human muscles gain memory is very slow，but once they are acquired，their forgetting speed is also very slow.

Utilizing the characteristics of muscle memory，this training combines Chinese writing training with sports training;and in this combining process，muscle memory is stimulated through writing newly learned characters in the air.All this eventually helps students form new writing habits that solve their difficulties in memorizing and writing Chinese characters.