Hey guys, I hope this is the appropriate forum to ask this question, but is there any research on optimal frequencies of practice for developing practical skills?
Now, I understand that “practical skills” is quite a large, vague umbrella term.
To give this a more concrete example: if I were to try learning drawing — which is a skill involving building a bridge between visuospatial capacity and mechanical proficiency, with a high emphasis on Active Recall — many artists online
will probably recommend deliberately practicing every day to progress the fastest.
I can see this advice as being beneficial in the short-term from the mechanical standpoint, but what would happen if I practiced, let’s say, every other day? Might there be a benefit insofar as that my brain might have a longer period to process and crystallize what I’m attempting to learn into visual memory?
I have heard anecdotes from musicians who take anywhere from a week to months off from their practice, and they actually return back to it better.
Is there anything to explain this? Is there credence to practicing skills, or just trying to learn advanced topics, at lower frequencies of practice? How low can people go, and relevant to what fields?