3 ms·
Typists who clear 70 wpm can’t even say where the keys are
- dredmorbius 13y agoIf I need to sort out key locations on a keyboard, I usually type out the alphabet and note where the keys fall (I know the sequence, I couldn't tell you many key locations straight off without reconstructing them). Recently doing some keyboard maintenance (cleaning out cruft), I'd managed to reassemble things almost perfectly, though I swapped the 'I' and '0' keys. Didn't realize this until I was trying to hit some specific application options and realized that what I was typing (by looking at the keyboard) wasn't what was appearing. When typing whole words I was working from my typing training and hadn't bumped into the problem. It's an example of muscle memory and ingrained knowledge. Having to think explicitly of the actions you're going to perform is a great way to freeze someone up (I've heard this said of baseball players and other athletes). You do want to work through things consciously early in practice, but once you've developed a talent, the trick is to find the right cues (often counterintuitive) to improve movements or skills.
- cyberjunkie 13y agoHaha! I did just that 2 weeks back, dredmorbius. At first with a completely blank keyboard, I struggled a bit. I decided to fit in the Ctrl Winkey Alt the left row of keys first and it all happened naturally after that.