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I was working as a waitress in an Asian restaurant in Melbourne, Australia for two months before coming to the U.S. It was my first job in the service industry and I was overwhelmed by the amount of stimulus in the tiny restaurant: customers were calling on the waitress to take orders; the chef from kitchen was ringing the bell; the manager was asking me to clean up two tables; the boiling water in tea pot was about to flow over...
After one week of adaptation, I finally learnt to assess the environment first then resolve the most urgent matter. Attentional focus is the process that we use to direct our attention to specific environmental information. A broad external focus is to assess the environment (how many customers need assistance); a broad internal focus is to analyze (which table looks the most impatient); a narrow internal focus is to rehearse the situation in mind (how I should behave when I go to the table); narrow external focus is to focus and execute.

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I was interested in yoga after the pandemic hit. Yoga has many defining factors that can make you a good yogi: physical form, endurance, emotional characteristics, flexibility etc.

Inherited from my mom, I am very flexible: it is easy for me to stretch my tendon and do a split; I was also able to bend backward into a bridge without much effort. I believe this is one of the abilities I was born with. Abilities is the general trait or capacity of the individual that is a determinant of a person's achievement potential for the performance of specific skills. It is unmodifiable by practice.
However, I am not great at holding a pose that requires a lot of physical strength. But I am able to improve my skill by working out my muscles. A skill is something that can be modified by practice over time. Even by doing yoga alone would help me improve my muscle strength and endurance.

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Whenever people ask me to share a fun fact about myself, I proudly mention that I am ambidextrous.
I was born left handed, but I learnt how to write with my right hand because my 1st year grade school teacher asked me to do so (I know it makes no sense). However, it took me only one week to 'switch' to my right hand. I was amazed by how fast I learnt such a complex ability, so were the people around me.
This phenomenon can be explained by the theory of positive transfer, especially the identical elements theory. The identical element theory states that two tasks that share a greater number of similar elements (component parts of the two skills) are expected to transfer more highly than two tasks that share fewer similar elements. By the age of 6, I could write with my left hand really well. Writing with left and right hand shares a lot of similar movement patterns which greatly increases the rate of positive transfer. I believe this is the main reason I was able to learn the ability in such a short time period.

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In the beginning of September, I entered the classroom of Anat & Phys 335, not knowing this is one of the hardest science class in UW-Madison. Still under the weather of the global pandemic, I was not fully prepared for the first exam and received a score I was unsatisfied with on the next day. I started talking to my classmates about how they study and some said they used flashcards, others mentioned drawing diagrams and three gland cascades on a white board.

With all those new ideas, I started to use a variety of study tools at the same time. I was using flashcards so that I was able to mix them up and practice active retrieval, drawing diagrams on a white board and told it out like a story, writing summary for each topic, especially information that I had yet to remember. My score for my second exam was a lot higher.

Now that I've learned about practice variability, I finally realized why multiple study tools were so effective. Variability in practice leads to better learning of the skill, and this is proven by my own experience.

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Chinese Zither - Intrinsic and Augmented Feedback

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Chinese Zither - Intrinsic and Augmented Feedback

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Ever since I fell in love with Chinese zither, this beautiful work of art that gives out melodies like a waterfall has become a big part of my life. Even with passion, it took a great amount of intrinsic and augmented feedback to learn how to play. In my early stages of learning, I mostly received augmented feedback from my instructor. Augmented feedback is information about a performance that supplements sensory feedback and comes from a source external to the performer. It is crucial for enhancing acquisition. My instructor would give out complements when I performed well which boost my confidence, and give out corrective feedback when there are rooms of improvements.

Now that I have played Chinese zither for 14 years, I am able to use intrinsic feedback to improve my performance. I am able to realize my errors (play off key or did not play in tempo) and able to fix my mistakes without augmented feedback.

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Traditional Chinese Music: "Fisherman's Song at Dusk," Chinese Zither Performance