Yahoo! Answers Blog Malaysia

Flickr photo by Yodel Anecdotal

Hi everyone,

A common question asked on Yahoo! Answers is: How come you never forget how to ride a bike? Most people grow up riding their bikes around their neighborhoods, but as soon as you get your driver’s license you graduate from two to four wheels. There are a quite a few blogs dedicated to this common phrase. People who haven’t ridden in 10, 15, 20 years, hop on the two-wheeler as if they were 10-years-old again.

So how come you can never forget how to ride a bike? Have you ever wondered how after years of not doing something you’re able to pick up the skill with little practice?

It has everything to do with muscle memory. According to some research published in Nature Neuroscience scientists have “identified a key nerve cell in the brain that controls the formation of memories for motor skills such as riding a bicycle, skiing or eating with chop sticks.” Our brains are designed to recover memory movements.

Maybe that’s why we say “it’s like riding a bike, you’ll never forget”. Turns out there are truths to that phrase. So what are some other things that we never forget? And why do we forget so many other types of things so easily? Please leave a comment below.

Thanks for reading!