Editing Muscle memory (section)

== Gross motor memory ==
[[Gross motor skill]]s are concerned with the movement of large muscles, or major body movements, such as those involved in walking or kicking, and are associated with normal development.<ref name = "Gross">{{cite web |title=Gross motor Skills – What are Gross Motor Skills |url=http://learningdisabilities.about.com/od/gi/p/grossmotorskill.htm |access-date=2010-03-24 |archive-date=2009-02-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090201055325/http://learningdisabilities.about.com/od/gi/p/grossmotorskill.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> The extent to which one exhibits gross motor skills depends largely on their muscle tone and the strength.<ref name = "Gross" /> In a study looking at people with Down Syndrome, it was found that the pre-existing deficits, with regard to verbal-motor performance, limits the individual's transfer of gross motor skills following visual and verbal instruction to verbal instruction only.<ref name="Meegan">{{cite journal |last1=Meegan |first1=S. |last2=Maraj |first2=B. K. V. |last3=Weeks |first3=D. |last4=Chua |first4=R. |year=2006 |title=Gross Motor Skill Acquisition in Adolescents With Downs Syndrom |journal=Down Syndrome Research and Practice |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=75–80 |doi= 10.3104/reports.298|pmid=16869378 |url=https://assets.cdn.down-syndrome.org/pubs/a/reports-298.pdf |doi-access=free }}</ref> The fact that the individuals could still exhibit two of the three original motor skills may have been a result of positive transfer in which previous exposure allows the individual to remember the motion, under the visual and verbal trial, and then later perform it under the verbal trial.<ref name = "Meegan" />

=== Learning in childhood ===
The way in which a child learns a gross motor skill can affect how long it takes to consolidate it and be able to reproduce the movement.  In a study with preschoolers, looking at the role of self-instruction on acquiring complex gross motor chains using [[ballet]] positions, it was found that the motor skills were better learned and remembered with the self-instruction procedure over the no-self-instruction procedure.<ref name="Vintere">{{cite journal |last1=Vintere |first1=P. |last2=Hemmes |first2=N. S. |last3=Brown |first3=B. L. |last4=Poulson |first4=C. L. |year=2004 |title=Gross-Motor Skill Acquisition by Preschool Dance Stoudents Under Self-Instruction Procedures |journal=Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis |volume=37 |issue=3 |pages=305–322 |doi= 10.1901/jaba.2004.37-305|pmc=1284506 |pmid=15529888}}</ref> This suggests that the use of self-instruction will increase the speed with which a preschooler will learn and remember a gross motor skill. It was also found that once the preschoolers learned and mastered the motor chain movements, they ceased the use of self-instruction. This suggests that the memory for the movements became strong enough that there was no longer a need for self-instruction and the movements could be reproduced without it.<ref name="Vintere" />

=== Effect of Alzheimer's disease ===
It has been suggested that consistent practice of a gross motor skill can help a patient with [[Alzheimer's disease]] learn and remember that skill.  It was thought that the damage to the [[hippocampus]] may result in the need for a specific type of learning requirement.<ref name="Dick">{{cite journal |last1=Dick |first1=M. B. |last2=Shankle |first2=R. W. |last3=Beth |first3=R. E. |last4=Dick-Muehlke |first4=C. |last5=Cotman |first5=C. W. |last6=Kean |first6=M. L. |year=1996 |title=Acquisition and long-term retention of a gross motor skill in Alzheimer's disease patients under constant and varied practice conditions |journal=The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences |volume=51B |issue=2 |pages=103–111 |doi=10.1093/geronb/51B.2.P103 |pmid=8785686 |doi-access=free }}</ref> A study was created to test this assumption in which the patients were trained to throw a bean bag at a target.<ref name="Dick" /> It was found that the Alzheimer's patients performed better on the task when learning occurred under constant training as opposed to variable.  Also, it was found that gross motor memory in Alzheimer's patients was the same as that of healthy adults when learning occurs under constant practice.<ref name="Dick" /> This suggests that damage to the hippocampal system does not impair an Alzheimer's patient from retaining new gross motor skills, implying that motor memory for gross motor skills is stored elsewhere in the brain. However there isn't much evidence provided on this.