??? Did You Know ???

Muscle memory, also known as motor learning, is a form of procedural memory that involves consolidating a specific motor task into memory through repetition. When a physical movement is repeated over time, a long-term memory is created for that task, eventually allowing it to be performed without conscious effort, and decreasing the need for attention.

Tourette syndrome, also known as Gilles De La Tourette Syndrome or simply Tourette’s, is an inherited neuropsychiatric disorder of the central nervous system with onset in childhood, characterized by physical and vocal tics, which often wax and wane, and, less commonly but more publicized, the spontaneous utterance of socially objectionable or taboo words or phrases, or the repetition of others’ words. It has been described, by both patients and neurologists, as a lack of stop signs in the brain. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are often (but not necessarily) associated with Tourette’s.

Tourette's appears to be related to the skill-acquisition process that ties stimuli to responses during the learning part of procedural memory (memory of skills and how things work). Physiologically, it involves changes in the sub-cortical brain area known as the striatum, and its interaction with the basal ganglia due to abnormalities in the way that hormones and neurotransmitters mediate communication between nerve cells in the brain.