We had a big debate today in my class about this. I was arguing that we use the full 100% of our brain, since I read this article, and pretty much everyone else firmly believed that we only use 5-10% of our brain. Snopes doesn't seem to give any hard facts I could use and probably nobody in my class even knows what Snopes is. So what's the truth? And if I'm right, are there any articles or facts I could use to prove my rightness?
Posted by KarlEd (Member # 571) on :
We know so little about our brains that such quantification, more often than not, is just numbers pulled out of the speaker's . . . um . . . handy imaginary number bag.
It stands to reason, evolutionarily speaking that if there were part of our brain we simply weren't using, it either no longer served a useful function, or it would have atrophied long ago.
I think what most people mean is that we don't think up to our full potential. How this could possibly be measured is anyone's guess.
Posted by Bokonon (Member # 480) on :
At any given time we only use a percentage of our brain. But we use all of our brains as the sections are needed.
-Bok
Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
Second.
Posted by Dante (Member # 1106) on :
I don't know as much about sources for the percentage question itself, but the eminent memory-expert Ken Higbee wrote an interesting article about college students' belief in the ten-percent myth in the September '98 Journal of Pyschology.
Posted by GaalDornick (Member # 8880) on :
So the 10% thing is a myth? I mean, I know that we use our entire brain, but maybe no one uses the brain to its full power? I just hated how everyone in my class was so conivinced that we only use 10% that they were shocked that I even suggested that we use our entire brain. It didn't even occur to them that it's possible I'm right. Even though none of them even knew where they heard that we only use 10%.
Posted by Eaquae Legit (Member # 3063) on :
My psych textbook maintains that the 10% thing is a myth entirely. But, it's an intro-level text, so there is probably some more technical things it doesn't mention.
From what I can recall, it goes back to early attempts to map the brain - some parts are very specific: poke here, that moves. But that was only a very small part of the brain and they couldn't assign specific functions to the rest. And somehow the myth that we only use 10% grew out of that.
Anyway, that's what I remember, but if someone more knowledgable wants to correct it, I'm only too glad.
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
First of all, everywhere I have been I have heard of the brain activity at any given time is below "capacity", whatever that may mean, although it will of course vary dramatically. "College students" which seem to be a sort of ignorant or sewer-inhabiting breed as descirbed here, no doubt mean that we use all of our brain but to a lesser level than is theoretically possible given the probable size of our brain and all that stuff which I know nothing about.
I have never heard the myth that we only use ten percent of our brains as in we only use ten percent of our physical brain material. Clearly, that's not the issue being addressed here, although that's what this outraged article is suggesting. That's not the case, I don't think.
Also, I don;t have any problem with us only making use of 10% of our processing power. If, on a regular basis we only use a fraction of our brains, why should the other section be available to us.
Also... Genius. Would Mozart and Beethoven be musical geniuses if they hadn't been born in to musical families? They might have always loved music, or had some kind of affinity for it but it's possible that had they been born into an environment where music didn't exist they would never have really been all that great.
It's also pretty much proven that if we teach our children younger they will be better at things as adults. Not everyone can be a genius, obviously, but there must be some truth to learning to use your brain, which is why children brought up in a sensory deprivated environment may never learn things simply because they never learn to make the proper pathways or whatever.
So I can well believe that the human brain is a untapped processor. And it doesn't bother me.
Posted by littlemissattitude (Member # 4514) on :
According to my teacher when I took psychophysiology, the 10 percent thing is a myth.
Posted by Speed 2: Cruise Control (Member # 6765) on :
Teshi, I'm pretty sure that when most people talk about the 10% statistic, they're not referring to the fact that every part of our brain isn't working at maximum capacity all day and all night. Rather, they're saying that 90% of the mass of grey matter in our skulls could be replaced by creamy peanut butter and it wouldn't affect us in any measurable way.
Seems a bit silly when you think about it, but people do believe it, with no evidence, because it's such a commonly cited statistic.
Posted by DarkKnight (Member # 7536) on :
I've always compared it to physical strength. How much of your physical strength do you actually use on average? Maybe 10%? I think this is how the brain use precentage myth got started as well
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
If only 10% of the brain was used, things like CVA's and TBI's wouldn't be nearly as disabling as they are. And if you got shot and took a bullet to the head, people would say, "Thank goodness it didn't hit anything he was using!"
Posted by Eaquae Legit (Member # 3063) on :
And lobotomies would not be such a big horrible deal. And severing the connections between hemispheres to halt seizures would probably be less effective. And and and...
Posted by Sopwith (Member # 4640) on :
To paraphrase the author of "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues": Your brain is the most important organ in your body. Or at least that's what your brain is telling you. Being that it handles the thinking, it's not going to let you know that really, your spleen's the real boss.
And of course, our brains would sometimes want us to think that we're nowhere near their limits and other times to assume that we're using every faculty available and pushing the capabilities envelope.
Brains are some tricky things, yes they are. Lil' gray squishy fascists ... they control the truth and they make it up, too!
Posted by LadyDove (Member # 3000) on :
quote:New brain-imaging evidence would dismiss the notion that only 10% of the human brain is only used at any given time. In PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scans for any activity including sleeping, the entire brain "lights up" in nearly every area indicating a great amount of cortical activity taking place during the execution of nearly all cognitive tasks. More than 60% of the brain is active even during REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep or dreaming.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
quote:Originally posted by Sopwith: Your brain is the most important organ in your body. Or at least that's what your brain is telling you. Being that it handles the thinking, it's not going to let you know that really, your spleen's the real boss.
Reminds me of the old joke.
Posted by Sopwith (Member # 4640) on :
Posted by Miro (Member # 1178) on :
That joke reminds me of something my Judaics teacher would often say. She would tell us to be grateful for the many things we tend to take for granted. Her most oft-used example was pooping (as in, we'd be in a whole lot of trouble if we couldn't). This was shocking enough (to hear from a teacher) to our elementary-school minds to get us to pay attention.
She was a great teacher. I miss her.
Posted by human_2.0 (Member # 6006) on :
quote:Originally posted by Teshi: Also... Genius. Would Mozart and Beethoven be musical geniuses if they hadn't been born in to musical families? They might have always loved music, or had some kind of affinity for it but it's possible that had they been born into an environment where music didn't exist they would never have really been all that great.
I'm glad you brought up Mozart because I was going to bring him up too.
First off, Mozart had, what is called, perfect pitch. That is the ability to tell what note is what just by hearing it. Most musicians (composers/performers) can not do this. I knew several people who could (I dated one). One described it like seeing colors. If they saw the color red, they knew it was so and so note. The girl I dated said that as a kid a relative noticed she knew what notes she was playing on the organ and so made her turn around, and identify each note. She could with ease.
My point, where does that function come from? The brain?
Second, what about mentally handicap people who can play the piano without practice. They just have to hear it. So obviously, they can't create. But the practice thing... I can imagine so many musicians giving up feet to be able to do that. And speaking from experience, I am aware that half of the time I made mistakes while performing it was because nerves caused my brain to misfire. So I would credit that to lack of brain usage (though not entirely the brain's fault).
Second, what about Rainman? What about people with picture perfect memory?
Ok, I'm not saying we only use 10% of the brain. I'm only saying there is hard evidence out that there humans are capable of amazing things and most do not realize that potential. Kinda like what Card describes as Anton's Key in the Shadow books.
Posted by FlyingCow (Member # 2150) on :
My math students would tell you that they use 115% of their brains. They would then tell you that this is less than half.
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