What Is Automaticity? Why Is It Important for Reading and Learning?

tearing-up-drivers-licenseAcquisition of a new skill is generally associated with a decrease in the need for effortful control over performance, leading to the development of automaticity. Automaticity, by definition, has been achieved when performance of a primary task is minimally affected by other ongoing tasks. People often refer to automaticity by saying they can do the task “on auto-pilot” or “in my sleep.”

Examples of automaticity are everyday activities such as walking, speaking, bicycle riding, and driving a car. Remember your first few driving lessons; how hard it was to concentrate on what to do when to prevent the vehicle from wrapping itself around the nearest tree! You had to think about when to use the mirror, where the indicator is, how to coordinate your feet with your hands when changing gear, what’s happening on the road, and so on. But the more you practised, the more automatic your driving became until you could eventually drive without thinking about it. In fact, while driving, your mind is now probably on something else most of the time, like talking to other people in the car, listening to the radio, or looking at the scenery outside.

Why is automaticity necessary?

Any person who speaks a language that they know well does not concentrate on vocabulary, sentence structure, or grammar. Their mind is focused on what they want to say. As explained in the Journal of Learning Disabilities, “If the skill on the primary task is automatized, it will not be disrupted by concurrent processing on the secondary task because automatic processing does not take up attentional resources.”

If, on the contrary, the skill is not automatized, it will be disrupted by the concurrent processing of a second skill because two skills are then competing for limited attentional resources. Therefore, when a person attempts to speak a language in which they have not become automatic yet, they will necessarily have to divide their attention between the content of their message and the language itself. They will, therefore, speak haltingly and with great difficulty.

This also applies to the act of reading. The person in whom the foundational skills of reading (for example, visual discrimination of position in space and visual discrimination of forms) have not yet become automatic will read haltingly and with great difficulty. The poor reader is forced to apply all their concentration to word recognition and, therefore, has “no concentration left” for content, and as a result, they will not be able to read with comprehension.

Studies show that the brain is a limited-control processor incapable of simultaneously managing fixed knowledge processing and higher-order reasoning. The development of automaticity involves a shift in brain usage and a reduction in brain activity. The processing of new information makes heavy use of working memory. Dramatic changes in brain activity can be seen on fMRI scans as automaticity develops. Developing of automaticity of skills generally reduces the load of working memory by 90 percent.

How is automaticity accomplished?

It is usually the result of learning, repetition, and practice. The main process by which we develop automaticity is called overlearning (also called overtraining). Overlearning is a pedagogical concept according to which newly acquired skills should be practised well beyond the point of initial mastery, leading to automaticity.

Overlearning is a frequently used tool by people who make speeches or must perform in any way to an audience.

A violinist, for example, doesn’t stop learning a piece they will perform once it’s initially mastered. The violinist instead keeps practising that piece so that it is automatic and there is little possibility of forgetting it when performing in front of a large crowd. Similarly, actors, dancers, and other musicians may calm the jitters by overlearning their parts, and may improve their performance by continuing to practise beyond initial memorization of lines, steps or moves, or musical notes.

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