3 ms·

I guess every musician knows this as well: You are in the perfect flow, groovin' along, you know what I mean, and then the moment you start thinking... you mess

• tgv 5y ago
  In music, "conscious" thinking deteriorates performance, because you'll be too late. It adds at least 100ms, but often more (note: there are explanations that model the delay as extra processing, or as interference, or as inhibition), so you'll drop out of the rhythm in no time. It also messes up fast fingering, so you'll be out of tune as well. Motor functions are really time sensitive. Try to write a word while thinking what your fingers have to do to move the pen... I'm not sure this study shows this, though. Lesser activity may be caused by other effects, e.g. because they're better trained, they can set up the motor program (which is often ballistic) in less time. There's also an account where accuracy is linked to larger ensembles of neurons firing simultaneously, so inaccuracy might look the same as prolonged activity.