Imagine my relief upon hearing researchers from the University of Oxford, in England claim that the reason I, and many like myself, suck at tennis or look as dorky on the dance floor as Elaine Benes did could be partly due to a tiny messenger in the brain. GABA (short for gamma-aminobutyric acid), is a naturally occurring chemical in the brain that acts like a traffic cop. Imagine all those nerves in your brain chatting constantly at one another. It’s the GABA that prevents all of that chatter from getting out of control.
It’s easier for people with brains that can better restrain and regulate their GABA amounts to master motor tasks not only like tennis but also things like piano playing and even dancing. In the case of GABA, less is more.
The researchers used transcranial stimulation in test patients, then took a look at the link between their GABA decreases and their natural ability for learning a simple series of finger movements. (Transcranial stimulation is a non-surgical, non-invasive way to excite brain neurons in people by using weak electric currents and rapidly changing magnetic fields.)
So the question is can a person overcome this GABA issue to get some “game”; to actually perform the “moonwalk” or even play “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik”? The researchers can offer only one piece of advice. Practice makes perfect.
So the next time my tennis game suffers I shall blame it on GABA irregularity and not my backhand. I'll still blame the fact that I can't dance on being stiff, old, white and straight.
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