The Carpenter effect

Any human movement begins in the human brain in the form of a mental image and only then is reproduced in the form of muscle contraction and joint work. Even if it seems to us that many movements we do not realize and produce on autopilot, this thought, this mental image still exists.

The Carpenter effect is the regularity that any perception or representation generates a propensity for a similar perception or representation. Simply put, a thought or idea born in the brain causes a motor reaction, which the brain perceives as real. The effect of Carpenter is known in medicine as an ideomotor effect (and law) and we will turn to ideomotor training.

For example, if you are a musician, there are no guitars nearby, and you have a ten-hour trip on the train, you can imagine your guitar in your hands (it is advisable to move your fingers) and train. The condition is one - you should ideally know the music and all the finger movements that are required. Motor and muscle memory exists, athletes, musicians and dancers know this very well.

This phenomenon is also known as the "Smart Hans Effect". It is the nickname of a horse, which gained worldwide fame at the beginning of the 20th century for allegedly possessing the highest intelligence. She could solve serious mathematical problems and taped the right answers with the hoof. In 1907, Oscar Pfungst conducted a study and concluded that the horse read signals from the behavior of its owner and in fact did not possess any intelligence.