{"id":3080,"date":"2025-01-09T10:58:54","date_gmt":"2025-01-09T10:58:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bullseye.ac\/blog\/?p=3080"},"modified":"2025-01-09T10:58:56","modified_gmt":"2025-01-09T10:58:56","slug":"the-neuroscience-behind-deliberate-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bullseye.ac\/blog\/book-reviews-summary\/the-neuroscience-behind-deliberate-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"The Neuroscience Behind Deliberate Practice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Number of words: 425<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This brings us to the question of what deliberate practice actually requires. Its core components are usually identified as follows: (1) your attention is focused tightly on a specific skill you\u2019re trying to improve or an idea you\u2019re trying to master; (2) you receive feedback so you can correct your approach to keep your attention exactly where it\u2019s most productive. The first component is of particular importance to our discussion, as it emphasizes that deliberate practice cannot exist alongside distraction, and that it instead requires uninterrupted concentration. As Ericsson emphasizes, \u201cDiffused attention is almost antithetical to the focused attention<\/em> required by deliberate practice\u201d (emphasis mine).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As psychologists, Ericsson and the other researchers in his field are not interested in why<\/em> deliberate practice works; they\u2019re just identifying it as an effective behavior. In the intervening decades since Ericsson\u2019s first major papers on the topic, however, neuroscientists have been exploring the physical mechanisms that drive people\u2019s improvements on hard tasks. As the journalist Daniel Coyle surveys in his 2009 book, The Talent Code <\/em>, these scientists increasingly believe the answer includes myelin\u2014alayer of fatty tissue that grows around neurons, acting like an insulator that allows the cells to fire faster and cleaner. To understand the role of myelin in improvement, keep in mind that skills, be they intellectual or physical, eventually reduce down to brain circuits. This new science of performance argues that you get better at a skill as you develop more myelin around the relevant neurons, allowing the corresponding circuit to fire more effortlessly and effectively. To be great at something is to be well myelinated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This understanding is important because it provides a neurological foundation for why deliberate practice works. By focusing intensely on a specific skill, you\u2019re forcing the specific relevant circuit to fire, again and again, in isolation. This repetitive use of a specific circuit triggers cells called oligodendrocytes to begin wrapping layers of mybelin around the neurons in the circuits\u2014effectively cementing the skill. The reason, therefore, why it\u2019s important to focus intensely on the task at<\/a> hand while avoiding distraction is because this is the only way to isolate the relevant neural circuit enough to trigger useful myelination. By contrast, if you\u2019re trying to learn a complex new skill (say, SQL database management) in a state of low concentration (perhaps you also have your Facebook feed open), you\u2019re firing too many circuits simultaneously and haphazardly to isolate the group of neurons you actually want to strengthen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Excerpted from page number 35 \u2013 37 of \u201cDeep Work\u201d by Cal Newport.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Number of words: 425 This brings us to the question of what deliberate practice actually requires. Its core components are usually identified as follows: (1) your attention is focused tightly on a specific skill you\u2019re trying to improve or an idea you\u2019re trying to master; (2) you receive feedback so you can correct your approach … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Neuroscience Behind Deliberate Practice - BullsEye<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bullseye.ac\/blog\/book-reviews-summary\/the-neuroscience-behind-deliberate-practice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Neuroscience Behind Deliberate Practice - BullsEye\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Number of words: 425 This brings us to the question of what deliberate practice actually requires. 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