The relationship between habits and motor skills in humans.

How do habit and skill relate to one another? Among many traditions of habit research, we suggest that 'slip-of-action' habits are the type most likely to relate to motor skill. Habits are traditionally thought of as a property of behavior as a whole. We suggest, however, that habits are better understood at the level of intermediate computations and, at this level, habits can be considered to be equivalent to the phenomenon of automaticity in skill learning – improving speed of performance at the cost of flexibility. We also consider the importance of habits in learning complex tasks given limited cognitive resources, and suggest that deliberate practice can be viewed as an iterative process of breaking and restructuring habits to improve performance. The term 'habit' is used to describe a diverse range of behavioral phenomena. Habits are almost universally interpreted in terms of a stimulus–response (S–R) association that becomes obligatory through repetition. A 'slip-of-action' habit occurs when a particular action is erroneously selected in response to an imperative stimulus. This type of habit is likely to be the most relevant to skill. Most behaviors are not the result of a single simple S–R association but instead are generated through multiple intermediate computations. Any of these intermediate computations could become habitual, leading to qualitatively different types of habitual behavior. When couched at the level of intermediate computations, habit can be considered to be equivalent to the phenomenon of automaticity in skill learning – improving the speed of action selection at the cost of flexibility. Habits are essential for learning and performing complex skills because they enable us to perform particular aspects of a skill automatically, thus allowing cognitive resources to be applied to other aspects of the skill that require deliberation and flexibility. Deliberate practice, a key principle in the acquisition of expert performance, can be viewed as the process of iteratively improving a skill by temporarily breaking and then replacing habits with improved versions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]