For me, the technique you suggest definitely helps, but I am only guessing when thinking that something similar is going on when we are that engine instead of a car or truck motor.

I learned the technique, but way back -- back when I was learning to drive an auto, and not by accident: in that context they call it downshifting, and I can only guess that it has something to do with the power curve of our 'engines' ;-) I'll bet that there are researchers that can tell us more.

That said, I am able to finely tune my cadence, but that is because I have 14 even-sized gear jumps, an internal geabox chosen specifically to allow me to do that on my commute, just with a simple single twist shifter. Simpletons like me need things to kept simple.