Writing Inspiration

How Mastering Procedural Memory Can Take Your Writing to the Next Level

By improving your procedural memory with practice, your writing might become more productive and reach new levels of success.

Are you struggling to find the right words and sentences when writing?

As a writer, I understand the struggles of putting words on the page. In a previous article, I shared my personal writing productivity, mentioning that I can write 2,500 words in an hour and typically complete 10,000 words daily for my profession and hobbies as a prolific writer. But I couldn’t do it in my younger years. I was stuck.

I understand that for some new writers, writing over 2000 words in an hour may seem impossible. I remember my struggles as a beginner when I couldn’t even write a hundred words in my field without feeling overwhelmed by writer’s block. Later I discovered that it was a lack of cognitive experience that I will unfold in this article.

As it happened to me, if you’re struggling with writer’s block or finding the right words to create a story or a book, it’s not because you’re not capable or intelligent. It’s because you haven’t yet established the procedural memory to make writing automatic and effortless.

I can assure you that with the right tools and techniques and their practice intentionally and consistently, you can overcome these struggles and find your path to writing success. However, this does not happen overnight. Therefore, you need to be patient and have self-compassion.

During my studies in cognitive science, I discovered the importance of procedural memory in the writing process. I learned and experienced that by establishing and improving my procedural memory, my writing practice became significantly more productive, and I reached new levels of success by experiencing no writer’s block anymore.

Procedural memory is a complex and technical topic in cognitive science and neuroscience disciplines. But in this article, without going into scientific or technical details, I will distill the information and simplify it by breaking it down and providing specific techniques and strategies for your use.

I wrote this article for writers, authors, and other content developers. However, these techniques can be applied to any profession, as all human jobs require some level of procedural memory to function effectively. Even artificial intelligence systems and robotic tools use procedural memory.

I previously introduced working memory, which can contribute to procedural memory. If you missed it, here is the link: 12 Steps to Skyrocket Working Memory.

What is Procedural Memory?

Procedural memory is a type of long-term memory responsible for the retention and recall of skills and habits that we perform automatically and without conscious thought.

It is an implicit form of memory, meaning that we are not aware of the specific memories or experiences that guide our actions but rather the actions themselves. Examples of procedural memory include touch typing, speed reading, riding a bike, and cooking a meal.

Procedural memory is formed through a process called consolidation, which occurs when the brain repeatedly practices a task or skill and then solidifies those memories during sleep.

The more a task is repeated, the stronger the neural connections become in the brain, making the task more automatic and easier to recall. This process is what allows us to take knowledge and turn it into a skill that can be performed with ease.

Procedural memory also plays a vital role in sequences of events, such as playing a musical instrument, performing a dance routine, or speaking in front of the public. It allows us to perform these actions seamlessly and fluently, without conscious thought or attention to each step.

This type of memory is significant for developing motor skills and habits, as it allows us to perform tasks with greater speed and accuracy. I want to introduce the key points to improve procedural memory in the next section.

Part 1 — How to Enhance Procedural Memory Naturally

In this section, I provide a brief overview of practical memory enhancement processes and techniques that can be applied to content development or any other job.

1.1 — Awareness of Context

The context in which you practice a task can affect how well you remember it. So, you may start with creating a context for your story. Context refers to the background information or circumstances surrounding and giving meaning to a particular statement, character, event, or situation.

1.2 — Mental rehearsal

Mental rehearsal is the process of visualizing yourself performing a task. You can do this by closing your eyes and imagining yourself going through the task steps. Mental rehearsal can help you activate the same neural pathways as a physical practice and can aid in the formation of procedural memory.

1.3 — Active engagement

To develop procedural memory, it’s essential to engage in the task actively. This means paying attention and focusing on what you are creating by visualizing and interacting with them rather than just going through the thoughts and sensations.

1.4 — Chunking

Chunking is breaking a task or skill down into smaller, manageable parts. By breaking down a task into smaller chunks, it becomes easier to practice and learn. In writing practice, sentences, paragraphs, sections, and chapters are good examples.

1.5 — Single-tasking

When you write a story or a book, focus on a single task, such as your current sentence, then the next one, and complete the paragraph. Refrain from multitasking. When you complete a section or a chapter, you might review the sentences and paragraphs to maintain flow and coherence. For example, writing and editing are different tasks that must be done separately.

1.6 — Repetition

The most effective way to develop procedural memory is through repetition. By practicing a task repeatedly, the brain can form stronger connections and make the task or skill more automatic. So by consistently writing on specific topics, you can develop metaphorical writing muscles.

1.7 — Variation

Repetition is good and essential for procedural memory. However, the brain also enjoys variation. So you may try to vary your practice by doing the task differently. This can help you engage different brain parts and make the task more automatic later. I explained it using the whole brain.

1. 8 — Distributed practice

Instead of writing a story or a book chapter in one session, you may try to spread it out over time to process information better. This approach can be helpful for long stories or chapters. For example, you can create multiple subsections and do each at different times. This will lower the load an inference in the brain.

1.9 — Visualisations and Mnemonics with Breathing Exercises

Visualizing yourself performing a task or skill before you tackle it can help you improve your ability to recall and perform it in real life. You may try to create a mental image of the task and focus on the essential details and movements.

Creating mnemonics, such as acrostics or rhymes, can help you improve your ability to recall and perform a task by associating it with a memorable phrase or image. Before writing a story or a chapter, I usually create a mnemonic and use it as the content framework.

When visualizing or creating mnemonics, you may watch your breaths and try slow and deep breathing to improve your focus and attention. The brain needs oxygen to process and consolidate memories.

Breathing exercises can also activate the parasympathetic nervous system, lowers stress, balance hormones, optimize neurotransmitters, and allows you to enter a flow state while writing or doing other tasks.

1.10 — Practicing under pressure

I left this to the end, as working under pressure might sound counterintuitive. However, when you challenge the brain in a controlled way, such as aiming for a story and chapter to complete a specific time, your creativity and productivity can paradoxically increase.

I used this challenging method for my paid engagements to meet deadlines.

Part 2 — Three Tips to Enhance Procedural Memory

1 — Teach your knowledge or skills to others with joy.

Teaching others with pleasure can improve procedural memory through several mechanisms like chunking, attention, elaborative rehearsal, social learning, and activating neurotransmitters.

By teaching a skill or task to others, you can solidify your own understanding and make it easier to recall by improving procedural memory.

Instructing requires you to explain and demonstrate the task or skill. It reinforces your understanding and mastery of the content. For example, breaking down the task into smaller, more manageable steps makes it easier to understand.

Teaching others with joy leads to an increased focus on the task and attention to detail. As you pay attention to the other person’s progress and understanding, it improves your understanding and ability to perform the task.

During this process, the brain rewards you with dopamine and serotonin, which are critical in forming memories.

Elaborative rehearsal, in which you explain or describe the task or skill in words or gestures, creates stronger connections in the brain and makes the task more memorable by activating acetylcholine.

In addition, teaching others can lead to social learning, which occurs through observing or imitating the behavior of others.

When teaching someone joyfully, observing how they learn and perform the task can help you improve your understanding and ability to complete the task. This improves bonding by activating oxytocin.

2 — Obtain feedback and take corrective actions in a flow state.

Feedback is an essential aspect of learning and improving your skills. By receiving feedback on your performance, you can identify areas that need improvement and adjust your practice.

Obtaining feedback and taking corrective actions is an effective method for improving your procedural memory. This process can solidify and reinforce the neural connections involved in a task making it easier to recall and perform it in the future.

When you receive feedback and take corrective actions in a flow state, the brain can consolidate the newly acquired information during sleep (which I cover in the next section) and make it more accessible for later recall.

When you engage in a task for extended periods, the brain might become overloaded with information, leading to interference between different tasks. Obtaining feedback and adjusting it in a flow state can reduce this interference, making it easier to remember the information and focus on future tasks.

When you receive feedback and take corrective action, you pay more attention to the task, which can lead to improved performance. If you do this intentionally and joyfully, you can reduce fatigue and prevent burnout.

Obtaining feedback and taking corrective actions can also provide you with an opportunity for self-evaluation and reflection. When you receive feedback, you can identify areas for improvement and gain insights into how to perform the task more effectively.

This self-evaluation and reflection can help you improve your understanding of the task, strengthening procedural memory.

Similar to teaching, obtaining feedback and taking corrective actions can lead to social learning. When you receive feedback, you observe how the other person learns and performs the task. This observation can help you improve your understanding and ability to perform the task.

In addition, you can also give feedback to yourself by self-editing your content and marking your performance subjectively or objectively. For example, you can use an editing checklist like this when rating the quality of your content.

If you enjoy challenges in life, you might also try soliciting negative criticism, which can be beneficial for achieving sophisticated goals in life.

I explained the benefits of negative criticism in a previous article titled How I Embrace Negative Criticism and What You Can Learn from My Decades of Experience.

3 — Get restorative sleep, leverage RAS, and try lucid dreaming

I left this to the end as sleep makes the most significant impact on consolidating memories formed through previously mentioned practices. Sleep plays a vital role in the consolidation of memories. Without restorative sleep, the previous points cannot be effective.

The consolidation of memories occurs during sleep, strengthening the connections between neurons involved in a specific task or skill. This makes it easier to recall and perform the task in the future.

Sleep plays multiple roles in the consolidation and strengthening of procedural memories, such as the rehearsal, interference reduction, synapse pruning, and stress management. I briefly touch on these critical processes to raise awareness.

During sleep, the brain actively rehearses and repeats newly acquired information, helping to solidify it into long-term memories. Like rest, sleep can reduce interference between different tasks and manage stress.

In fact, sleep can handle interference and stress management much better than rest, making it easier to focus on future tasks. During sleep, the brain removes unnecessary synapses, keeping the important ones and making the memory more robust and efficient.

The Reticular Activating System (RAS) comprises a cluster of nerves in the brain stem. Its primary role is to filter unnecessary information and only allow essential content.

RAS is critical for survival as this region filters unnecessary and inundated information from multiple senses. It focuses on seeking facts validated by our perception and beliefs coded as memory.

Realistically, the conscious brain can handle a tiny chunk of information. The solution to our problems is tapping into the vast ocean of the subconscious mind. This is where RAS plays a critical role.

More specifically, RAS establishes a bridge between the conscious and subconscious mind. I explained RAS and provided practical tips to use it in daily life and work in a story titled Here’s Why I See RAS as the Secret to Accomplish Dreams with Less Effort.

Lucid dreaming also seems to have effects on memories and motor skills. I use lucid dreaming to increase my creativity and solve problems I cannot solve with my intellect and logic, such as estimating the 50th century.

There are some interesting studies on the effects of lucid dreaming on memory. For example, this study found that “Lucid dreamers could perform a motor task faster after a lucid dream than after a non-lucid dream.”

And this study found that “people who had lucid dreams were able to perform a motor task more accurately after the dream than those who did not have lucid dreams.”

Summary and Conclusions

Procedural memory is long-term memory that enables us to perform skills and habits automatically without conscious thought. It’s formed through consolidation, which occurs when the brain repeatedly practices a task or skill and solidifies those memories during sleep.

The more a task is repeated, the stronger the neural connections become, making the task more automatic and easier to recall.

This type of memory is necessary for developing motor skills and habits. It also plays a vital role in sequences of events such as playing a musical instrument, performing a dance routine, or speaking in front of the public. Using it effectively can make everything “Figureoutable” in life.

Awareness of context is essential for effective memory retention.

Mental rehearsal can aid in the formation of procedural memory.

Active engagement is necessary for improving procedural memory.

Chunking a task into smaller parts makes it easier to learn.

Single-tasking improves focus and flow.

Repetition can strengthen neural connections for automatic recall.

Variation engages different brain areas.

Distributed practice improves information processing.

Visualizations and mnemonics with breathing can aid recall, relaxation, and performance.

Practicing under pressure improves performance in high-stress situations.

By teaching your knowledge to others joyfully, practicing memory enhancement techniques by working in a flow state, obtaining feedback methodically and taking corrective actions, and getting restorative sleep daily, you can significantly improve your procedural memory and excel in your profession.

More importantly, as a writer, by improving your procedural memory, you can write content guaranteed to get views and reads.

If you are a freelance writer, you may check out my thoughts on creative non-fiction writing. Do you want to write content to generate steady income? Do you want your stories to be boosted? If you have writer’s block, check this out. If you feel stressed and are facing burnout, here is guidance.

Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.

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