 | Do We Use Only 10% of Our Brain? | |
| Do We Use Only 10% of Our Brain? | |
 The question is: Do we use only 10% of our brains?Let me state this very clearly:
In other words, the statement, "We use only 10% of our brains" is false;it's a myth. We use all of our brain.
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 Text ofthe ad reads: "You only use 11% of its potential. Ditto. Now there's away to get the most of both." | Nevertheless, somehow, somewhere, someone started this mythand the popular media keep on repeating this false statement (see thefigures). Soon, everyone is believing this lie. I have not been able totrack down the exact source of this myth, and I have never seen anyscientific data that supports the 10% statement. According to thebelievers of this myth, if we used more of our brain, then we couldperform super memory feats and have other fantastic mental abilities -maybe we could even move objects with a single thought. Again, I do notknow of any data that would support any of this. |
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 | What does it mean to use only 10% of your brain? What data wasused to come up with the number - 10%? Does this mean that we would bejust fine if 90% of our brains was removed? If the average human brainweighs 1,400 grams (about 3 lb) and 90% of it was removed, that wouldleave 140 grams (about 0.3 lb) of brain tissue. That's about the size ofa sheep's brain. It is well-known that damage to a relatively small areaof the brain, like that caused by a stroke, may cause devastatingdisabilities. Certain neurological disorders, like Parkinson's Disease,also affect only specific areas of the brain. The damage caused by theseconditions is far less than damage to 90% of the brain. |
 The ActionPotential | Perhapswhen people use the 10% brain statement, they mean that only 1 out ofevery 10 nerve cells is essential or used at any one time? I would liketo know how this was measured. Again, I do not know of any data tosupport this statement. Even if neurons are not firing action potentials,they may still be receiving signals from otherneurons. |
 Furthermore,from anevolutionary point of view, it is unlikely that larger brains would havedeveloped if there was not an advantage. Certainly there are severalpathways that serve similar functions. For example, there are severalcentral pathways that are used for vision. This concept is called"redundancy" and is found throughout the nervous system. Nevertheless,having several pathways for the same function may be a type of "safetymechanism" should one of the pathways fail. Still, functional brainimaging studies show that all parts of the brain function. Evenduring sleep, the brainis active. The brain is still being "used", it is just in a differentactive state.
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| So next time you hear someone say that they only use 10% of their brain,you can set them straight. Tell them,
If you find any news articles or advertisements using the 10% myth, pleasesend them to me: Dr. Eric H. Chudler; Dept. Anesthesiology, BOX 356540;University of Washington; Seattle, WA 98195-6540 For a continuing discussion of this topic, see the Brain and MindJournal Brainstorming article called "What is theCapacity of the Brain" and Jay's Brain Page on How Much of Our BrainDo We Use?". |
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The 10% statement may have beenstarted with a misquote of Albert Einstein or the misinterpretation of thework of Pierre Flourens in the 1800's. Maybe it was William James whowrote in 1908: "We are making use of only a small part of our possiblemental and physical resources" (from The Energies ofMen, p. 12). Perhaps it was the work of Karl Lashley in the1920's and 1930's that started it. Lashley removed large areas of thecerebral cortex in rats and found that these animals could still relearnspecific tasks. 
We now know that destruction of even small areas of thehuman brain can have devastating effects onbehavior. That is one reason why neurosurgeons must carefully map thebrain before removing brain tissue during operations for epilepsy or braintumors so that essential areas are not damaged.
Finally,the saying 
Many studies have shown that if the input to a particularneural system is eliminated, then neurons in this system will not functionproperly. This has been shown quite dramatically in the visual system: complete loss of vision will occur if visual information is prevented fromstimulating the eyes (and brain) early in development. It seemsreasonable to suggest that if 90% of the brain was not used, then manyneural pathways would degenerate. However, this does not seem to be thecase. On the other hand, the brains of young children are quiteadaptable. The function of a damaged brain area in a young brain can betaken over by remaining brain tissue. An incredible example of suchrecovery is the caseof "Brandi", a girl who at the age of 4 years old had a large portionof her brain removed to control seizures. Brandi's miraculous recoveryafter such surgery would have been impossible for anadult.![[email]](./gif/menue.gif)