Myth: we only use 10% of the brain?

[Discordia]

Where Did the 10% Myth Begin?

The 10% statement may have been started with a misquote of Albert Einstein or the misinterpretation of the work of Pierre Flourens in the 1800s. It may have been William James who wrote in 1908: "We are making use of only a small part of our possible mental and physical resources" (from The Energies of Men, p. 12). Perhaps it was the work of Karl Lashley in the 1920's and 1930's that started it. Lashley removed large areas of the cerebral cortex in rats and found that these animals could still relearn specific tasks. We now know that destruction of even small areas of the human brain can have devastating effects on behavior. That is one reason why neurosurgeons must carefully map the brain before removing brain tissue during operations for epilepsy or brain tumors: they want to make sure that essential areas of the brain are not damaged.

What Does it Mean to Use Only 10% of Your Brain?

What data were used to come up with the number - 10%? Does this mean that you would be just fine if 90% of your brain was removed? If the average human brain weighs 1,400 grams (about 3 lb) and 90% of it was removed, that would leave 140 grams (about 0.3 lb) of brain tissue. That's about the size of a sheep's brain. It is well known that damage to a relatively small area of the brain, such as that caused by a stroke, may cause devastating disabilities. Certain neurological disorders, such as Parkinson's Disease, also affect only specific areas of the brain. The damage caused by these conditions is far less than damage to 90% of the brain.

The Evidence (or lack of it)

Perhaps when people use the 10% brain statement, they mean that only one out of every ten nerve cells is essential or used at any one time? How would such a measurement be made? Even if neurons are not firing action potentials, they may still be receiving signals from other neurons.

Furthermore, from an evolutionary point of view, it is unlikely that larger brains would have developed if there was not an advantage. Certainly there are several pathways that serve similar functions. For example, there are several central pathways that are used for vision. This concept is called "redundancy" and is found throughout the nervous system. Multiple pathways for the same function may be a type of "safety mechanism" should one of the pathways fail. Still, functional brain imaging studies show that all parts of the brain function. Even during sleep, the brain is active. The brain is still being "used," it is just in a different active state.

Finally, the saying "Use it or Lose It" seems to apply to the nervous system. During development many new synapses are formed. In fact, some synapses are eliminated later on in development. This period of synaptic development and elimination goes on to "fine tune" the wiring of the nervous system. Many studies have shown that if the input to a particular neural system is eliminated, then neurons in this system will not function properly. This has been shown quite dramatically in the visual system: complete loss of vision will occur if visual information is prevented from stimulating the eyes (and brain) early in development. It seems reasonable to suggest that if 90% of the brain was not used, then many neural pathways would degenerate. However, this does not seem to be the case. On the other hand, the brains of young children are quite adaptable. The function of a damaged brain area in a young brain can be taken over by remaining brain tissue. There are incredible examples of such recovery in young children who have had large portions of their brains removed to control seizures. Such miraculous recovery after extensive brain surgery is very unusual in adults.

Source

So what does everyone think? B.S or not?

[ConservativePessimist]

The 10% brain theory doesn't come from the amount of brain tissue that you need to survive. It comes from the amount of brain tissue that you actively use (things that are not automated by your body). For example, your heart beating does not count towards the 10%, but you better believe you need that part of your brain. However, thinking about why you enjoy a piece of music so much is using that 10%. I don't personally believe that 10% is exactly the amount of brain tissue used, but it is probably somewhere around there - imagine the amount of things in your body that you do not actively have to control.

[thug007]

well, if the bibles true then people who lived like 600 years+ they probably used 70% of their brain. idk?

Edited May 11, 2005 by thug007

[zandore]

So what does everyone think? B.S or not?

BS

In other words, the statement, "We use only 10% of our brains" is false; it's a myth. We use all of our brain. Let's look at the possible origins of this myth and the evidence that we use all of our brain.

SOURCE

[Essan]

Everyone uses 100% of their brain. It's just that most don't use it very well....

[zandore]

Everyone uses 100% of their brain.  It's just that most don't use it very well....

616177[/snapback]

Lol So true!

[Discordia]

Well this is newly found information to me, I feel so sheltered.

I always wondered why our brain would be the size it is if we didn't use it all.

[TheBloom]

There are some parts of our brain that we do not use. These parts are things that human kind has not been able to harness...but quite possibly used to. Like telepathy, telekenisis. I also think that certain types of vision could be completly possible ..like infrered. Unfortunatly I feel to be able to see with infrared would cause so much energy drain that it would shorten our lifes.

However, this is my opinion. I don't care what yours is. I'm just replying to the thread.

[nativechick1989]

Everyone uses 100% of their brain.  It's just that most don't use it very well....

616177[/snapback]

[TraJikMaJik]

Actually there is probably only 10% of our brain that we do not use. Its just that at one given time, we are only using 10%. But that does not mean we do not use the other 90, it means we dont use the other 90% all at one time. The activities that we preform only require that we use 10% of our brain. Maybe once we find more challenging activities for our brain, we will use more then the 10% at once.

[zandore]

Maybe once we find more challenging activities for our brain, we will use more then the 10% at once.

Use it or loose it.

[Hoagy]

maybe that 10% that is'nt used, if you go for the reverse theory, is the part of the brain that produces energy in the form of PK, TK, poltergeist type phenomena etc.

Just a thought.

[cptblackbeard]

There are some parts of our brain that we do not use. These parts are things that human kind has not been able to harness...but quite possibly used to. Like telepathy, telekenisis. I also think that certain types of vision could be completly possible ..like infrered. Unfortunatly I feel to be able to see with infrared would cause so much energy drain that it would shorten our lifes.

However, this is my opinion. I don't care what yours is. I'm just replying to the thread.

616238[/snapback]

Just out of interest do you always base your opinions on wild conjecture or do you have some reason for believing all this.

[TheBloom]

There are some parts of our brain that we do not use. These parts are things that human kind has not been able to harness...but quite possibly used to. Like telepathy, telekenisis. I also think that certain types of vision could be completly possible ..like infrered. Unfortunatly I feel to be able to see with infrared would cause so much energy drain that it would shorten our lifes.

However, this is my opinion. I don't care what yours is. I'm just replying to the thread.

616238[/snapback]

Just out of interest do you always base your opinions on wild conjecture or do you have some reason for believing all this.

616883[/snapback]

This is my opinion. If you don't like it smeg off. I don't have to explain myself to you.

Edited May 12, 2005 by DukeofNoodleness

[convert-proof]

We might use 100% of our brains, but science still doesn't understand all of it.

[seeking]

SNOPES OWNS YOU

[MrScienceGuy]

Lightning strikes a church during a sermon after preacher identifies thunder as the voice of God.

http://www.snopes.com/religion/bolt.htm

Edit: And um... brain is good... use it!

Edited May 12, 2005 by MrScienceGuy

[Richdog]

There are some parts of our brain that we do not use. These parts are things that human kind has not been able to harness...but quite possibly used to. Like telepathy, telekenisis. I also think that certain types of vision could be completly possible ..like infrered. Unfortunatly I feel to be able to see with infrared would cause so much energy drain that it would shorten our lifes.

However, this is my opinion. I don't care what yours is. I'm just replying to the thread.

616238[/snapback]

Yes I agree, the energy drain would be too great... likely it would cause a rift in the space-time continuum. Promise me D.O.N.... you'll never try infrared sight on your own, make sure there's someone there to perform psi-recovery on you. There are many gifted young psionicists on this forum, all with unimaginable powers... take your pick.

[Dowdy]

10% huh?

Well, my brain is better than your because i havn't used mine yet

[Glenn Gould]

QUOTE:

______________________________________________________________________________

Everyone uses 100% of their brain.  It's just that most don't use it very well..

______________________________________________________________________________

Nothing could be further from the truth. Most people rely primarily on the left or right hemisphere of the brain. Those with advanced numerical, practical and technical skills use the left side, and those with advanced creative skills rely more on the right side of the brain. I am simplifying this of course, but in either case people often neglect to develop/use/harness at least 50% of their brain potential, mainly out of laziness and social conditioning.

Relying on a particular hemisphere doesn't automatically mean your using 50% of your brain potential though. A Mathematician or a scientist, who puts 12 hour days of focused left hemisphere effort, for instance, would be approaching the 50% mark (after years of sustained effort), while a checkout girl at the supermarket(who also relies on numerical skills to some extent) probably doesn't even approach the 5% mark. The potential might be there, but it lies dormant.

Edited May 13, 2005 by Glenn Gould

[zandore]

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Wrong!

In other words, the statement, "We use only 10% of our brains" is false; it's a myth. We use all of our brain. Let's look at the possible origins of this myth and the evidence that we use all of our brain.

SOURCE

I posted this link earlier in the thread.

[Tricia-Ann]

Can I throw a different angle into the game?

How about we only use 10% of our consciousness? We use most of our brains abilities to live within that 10%, if we start to expand our imagination and inner vision we develop the synapsis to cope with this expansion.

That is to say, our brain expands the more we stretch it.

[MrScienceGuy]

where do you get your statistics from

[Richdog]

OK READ THIS...

Brain Myth http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/tenper.html

What data were used to come up with the number - 10%? Does this mean that you would be just fine if 90% of your brain was removed? If the average human brain weighs 1,400 grams (about 3 lb) and 90% of it was removed, that would leave 140 grams (about 0.3 lb) of brain tissue. That's about the size of a sheep's brain. It is well known that damage to a relatively small area of the brain, such as that caused by a stroke, may cause devastating disabilities. Certain neurological disorders, such as Parkinson's Disease, also affect only specific areas of the brain. The damage caused by these conditions is far less than damage to 90% of the brain.

http://www.theness.com/articles/brain-nejs0201.html

The appeal of this idea is clear.  If we humans only use a small percentage of our brains, then all of us possess vast untapped potential, waiting for us to use.  What incredible and mysterious abilities might be hiding in the supposed unused 90% of our brains?  New-agers have capitalized on this false idea as a justification for belief in ESP or other supernatural mental powers.

        The history of the belief is more obscure.  It is not clear exactly where the 10% figure came from, but it is about 100 years old.  At no point did neuroscientists ever believe or even speculate that humans used such a small fraction of their brains. About the same time the 10% figure first appears, however, the brain was being mapped for the first time, with specific neurological and mental functions being localized to specific structures within the brain.  At one point it was noted that about 10% of the human brain had been mapped out in this fashion, and perhaps this statement was misinterpreted to mean that the other 90% had no mundane function.

http://www.brainconnection.com/topics/?main=fa/brain-myth

Advertisers believe it. The popular media promote it. Do we use only a small portion of our brains? If the answer to this question is Yes, then knowing how to access the "unused" part of our brain should unleash untapped mental powers and allow us perform at top efficiency. But is it true that we only use 10% of our brains? Let's examine the issue of brain use and attempt to get at the truth behind the myth.

[Glenn Gould]

QUOTE:

_____________________________________________________________________________

In other words, the statement, "We use only 10% of our brains" is false; it's a myth. We use all of our brain.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Did you bother to read the specific quote I was replying to?

Should I spell it out for you?

" We all use 100% of our brains..."

A statement I find dismaly inaccurate and ignorant.

Edited May 13, 2005 by Glenn Gould