The 10% myth can be attributed to a study that was done in the late 19th to early 20th century which discovered that only around 10% of the total neurons in the brain fire simultaneously. This led to the widely held misconception that humans use only around 10% of their total brain.
Source: TopNews HealthThink about it: controlling our breathing rate, blood pressure, digestive enzymes, pH level, muscular systems, auditory and visual systems--all with 10% of our brain power. And this is without any "thinking" or other "voluntary" functions such as talking or writing a term paper.
There are many webpages on the Internet which dispel this myth. One such website is here.
In addition, there are many arguments against the 10% theory. Take for example injury to the brain. The brain is very sensitive to injury, and almost any area in the brain, if injured, leads to a loss of abilities from that respective area. The brain compensates for this by recovering itself, and usually redirecting the abilities that that area was responsible for to another area in the brain. If the 10% brain theory was true, then if most areas of the brain were injured, it would not be harmful since only 10% of the brain is utilized. This, although not my favorite argument, is an example for the types of arguments against the 10% brain theory.
Not to mention that modern science has dissected the brain thoroughly to find that nearly every part of the brain has a specific function amidst a labyrinth of other functions.
I just wanted to put it out there for those who do not know yet. We do not use 10% of our brains.
It bothers me so much when people say this. I am a biomedical Engineering major with a specialization in brain mapping. Every time I hear "I thought we only use 10% of our brains" I want to punch someone.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you are spreading the word.
Wow I didnt know that before. But there are many of these common facts that arent true, but everybody thinks so!
ReplyDeleteyeah that's an old myth. we use 100% but obviously not a 100% all the time. we just use parts of it.
ReplyDeleteI knew that can't be right... but I never knew that it was widely known to be false, so thanks :)
ReplyDeleteI am really sick of hearing the %10 thing.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Subbd!
And another myth busted, thanks!
ReplyDeleteUsing only 10% doesn't even make sense from an evolutionary standpoint. And yet I hear people say it all the time.
ReplyDeletehow easy it is to ingrain something into our collective thoughts. these examples always make me think of "if its this easy to assume this is real, what other ideas that millions of people assume as fact are actually false?"
ReplyDeleteI had heard some statistics against the old 10% myth, but I didn't have much to argue it on.
ReplyDeletedidnt knowed that^^
ReplyDeleteVery good post. The idea that we use only 10 percent of our brains is ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteI actually believed this when I was younger. Then I discovered google.
ReplyDeletei commented on brain usage today, now i feel a fool. thanks for posting.
ReplyDeleteSo is it that we typically only need to use a fraction of our brain and that we have the capacity to use the full 100% of our brain power?
ReplyDeleteI always knew the 10% was bunk!
ReplyDeletewasnt this in mythbusters too? they also took down this myth :)
ReplyDeleteI also always thought 10% seemed meaningless, 'use' seems difficult to quantify
ReplyDeletelol theres a movie coming out about using 100% of your brain XD so friggin stoopId
ReplyDeleteDrunken people only use 5%.
ReplyDeleteI saw an episode of Mythbusters where they busted that myth too.
ReplyDeleteWow, that's an eye-opener. I've always been told that it was 10%.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we only use it at 10% capacity, but don't only use 10% of its volume.
ReplyDelete10% is ridiculous. I bet that even in coma the human brain uses more than 10%.
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