Why Practice Doesn't Always Make Perfect

The Hang Theory. A lecture series by Hang Dallas.

One speaker. One big idea. One good room.

Where · 2700 SWISS Event Space.

Anyone who has tried to unlearn a bad tennis swing knows that practice does not always cooperate. The brain turns repetition into habit, and it does so without judging whether the pattern is correct. The circuits that lock in a smooth forehand will lock in a flawed one just as efficiently. Dr. Catherine Thorn walks through how the basal ganglia encode motor patterns through repetition, and why undoing the wrong reps requires more than simply doing the right ones. The evening is hosted by Dr. Catherine Thorn, an Associate Professor of Neuroscience at UT Dallas, where she directs the Motor and Habit Learning Lab. Her research examines how the cortex, basal ganglia, and neuromodulatory systems support motor learning and the habits that structure daily life. She holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT and has won multiple awards for her research at UT Dallas.

How the night goes

Doors at 6:00 PM. Come early, grab a drink and something to eat, settle in.
Dr. Thorn takes the floor at 7:00 PM.
Questions from the room near 7:45 PM.
Afterward, stay for a glass of wine with Dr. Thorn. The best conversations happen then.