What you describe is one of the fundamental “problems” of associative memories. Which is doing or recalling a thing in one context does not mean you are capable

What you describe is one of the fundamental “problems” of associative memories. Which is doing or recalling a thing in one context does not mean you are capable of doing or recalling the exact same thing in another context. Neurons light up based on all the current inputs, and if none of the current inputs light up the neurons that can trigger a skill, good luck doing that skill. This is why practicing in a wide variety of contexts is really important for mastery, you’re essentially increasing the odds that different inputs have a chance to trigger the knowledge that’s locked away in the structure.