How the Brain Retrieves “Files” While Shooting

Most shooters don’t realize that each time they prepare to take a shot at a moving target for the first time, the long-term memory takes bits and pieces from different files it remembers from its past. Then it assembles a unique file to break the target you are planning to break.

With experience, it can do this really fast (less than one or two seconds) once it has seen the new target. The more experience the long-term memory has at putting files together, the better and more efficient it becomes at making the correct file for breaking the target you are about to shoot.

This process is called retrieval and is a natural function of the brain. It’s why skill cannot be transferred from one person to another. Skill must be built with countless repetition with slightly different files being formed and stored in the long-term memory of each shooter.