According to a popular myth, humans supposedly only use 10% of their brains. The origin of this myth is debatable; no one really knows how this myth came to be. One theory is based on an experiment from the 1930s by Karl Spencer Lashley. By removing different parts of rats' brains, Lashley showed that each piece could perform normally under a variety of tests, such as navigating through a maze. This introduced the idea of humans only needing to use a small portion of their brain.
To test this myth, we must first decide on what is meant by "using 10% of you brain". Many people believe that this refers to the capacity, or how much memory can be stored, of the brain. According to PaShawnda Briley, a biology student at Byrn Mawr College, only 5% of neurons in the brain are active at one time, meaning that the whole brain is not used all at once. This suggests that perhaps that only a small percentage of the brain's capacity is used. Briley's biology web report can be found at the Byrn Mawr Website.
On the contrary, "using 10% of the brain" could also refer to using the brain for different tasks, not the capacity level. Different parts of the brain provide different functions. For example, according to Thomas Cleland, a biology professor at UCSD, the visual cortices (the part of the brain that processes what we see) in the brain are directly connected to our eyes, and this section of the brain, the visual cortex, is only used to see things. Cleland confirms what is meant by the 10% myth, "Less than 10% of the cells in our brain are actually neurons (nerve cells) - the rest are
called 'glial cells'. Glial cells perform all kinds of different tasks, from insulating the brains 'wires' to maintaining the brain's chemistry to helping regulate the many connections among neurons (called synapses) in which the memory can be stored. Cleland's full response to this question from "Ask a Scientist" can be found at the Cornell Center for Materials Research website. This myth has been busted; humans do use 100% of their brains in a variety of different tasks, and each part of the brain is uniquely designed to perform that specific function.
called 'glial cells'. Glial cells perform all kinds of different tasks, from insulating the brains 'wires' to maintaining the brain's chemistry to helping regulate the many connections among neurons (called synapses) in which the memory can be stored. Cleland's full response to this question from "Ask a Scientist" can be found at the Cornell Center for Materials Research website. This myth has been busted; humans do use 100% of their brains in a variety of different tasks, and each part of the brain is uniquely designed to perform that specific function.So, the next time you perform a task, such as sitting at this computer, looking at my blog, consider how your brain is being used. If you think about these things every day, you can know how much you really know.
7 comments:
I never knew that this myth even existed. I have never really thought about this myth. My opinion when I first saw the title of the myth was that 100 percent of the brain is used for just about everything people do. You seemed to have given enough information on the origins of the myth and the ways of how the myth was tested to prove whether or not it is legit. Overall, good job on your post.
I have always wondered if humans really did only use 10% of their brain, it kinda disappoints me that's it false, nice work on your sources and info!
I think you did a great job at attacking the myth from several different angles as well as explaining why the myth is wrong and the different tests that have been made. I have heard this myth many times before and I think it is very interesting. Good job!
I thought this was a very interesting topic, because I've heard the people only use 10% of their brain before. It seems odd that someone would only use 10% of their brain so it makes sense for this myth to be false. Good job, this was good information.
This was an interesting myth, and you did a very good job finding credible sources. So when you say that we use 100% of our brain, do you mean we use 100% of our brain, at all times? You also did a good job showing the other side of the myth, that we only use 10%, and disproving that.
Wow! this is really interesting! I have always wondered if that was true cause i have heard that many times in my life. I am also very glad in your post that you inserted that picture that shows which each piece of the brain does cause that helped me learn a lot more!
I have acctually never heard that myth before. I would find it hard to believe that only 10% of the brain is used, because the human body has a habit of gradually ceacing to form things that it doesn't use over generations. For example more and more people are not growing wisedom teeth because we don't need them any more. So wouldn't the body do the same thing with any unused parts of the brain? This is a neat topic and you covered it really well.
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