Consider this...we are told that we use only twenty percent of our brain, but it's that twenty percent of the brain that's doing the answering. So is it possible to really answer this question accuratly with ou limited brain resources.
2006-07-22 07:28:07 · 7 answers · asked by Teaim 6 in Social Science ➔ Anthropology
Your question is based on a misnomer...we use all our brain, but not to think with....80+ percent of the volume is connections, "wiring." Only the cortex, the outer layer, is known to do the actual thinking. Judging from many I have met, I think the outer layer is NOT fully used much of the time.
2006-07-22 07:53:03 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
this is a little silly, with all due respect. parts of the brain are specialised, just like parts of the body.
would i be able to kick a soccer ball better by using my whole body/more parts of it, than just my right foot?
no, in fact i do it best by using the part specialised for this act very well, such as doing lots of training kicking the soccer ball with my right foot
transfering this to the brain, there is a ridge of the parietal lobe on the top called the motor cortex. this is where i coordinate the motions of my foot to kick the ball. will i think better about how to coordinate my foot by using my amygdala, the pleasure centre of the brain and also partly involved in regulating appetite?
no... just like using my left hip to try to kick the ball at the same time as i try to kick it with my right foot will reduce the quality of the kick, not enhance it.
the 20% idea is false too. what i have said above must be understood in the context of many parts of the brain contributing at once, even though there are specialised areas. this is due to working memory, which sustains consciousness. working memory draws on all different parts of the brain all the time, making the brain into a kind of network to supply information from memories to do somethign we have done before again, and to supply 'data processing resources' for current tasks from the different specialised areas of the brain...
therefore, parts of my brain involved in answering this question range from the motor cortex to coordinate typing, the occipital lobe at the back to facilitate vision of what i am typing, and prefrontal cortex to coordinate the integration of memories -sustained partly by the hippocampus in the centre of the brain- with the task at hand, which is to explain to you how much of the brain is used to answer this question.
it's just like the whole body is, really, being used, or 'humming along' whilst kicking that soccer ball, but only part of it is being 'used', specifically, for that specific task. the fact that the body hums along though is very important, as it is needed to sustain the performance of that particular task by that particular body part. eg it provides the resources for that like blood flow/nerve impulses etc.
the brain hums away in the background with a network of activity occuring across the cortex (for example), however there are certain parts for certain tasks, for example the occipital lobes (at the back, funnily enough) for vision.
2006-07-23 10:37:51 · answer #2 · answered by Smegma Stigma 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I don't know exactly, however I am sure we don't use quite enough of our brain most of the time.
2006-07-22 14:39:25 · answer #3 · answered by chulita 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I am not sure but I think we use all of our brain.
2006-07-22 14:33:55 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
i've read the max we've used is abt 12% of how much we can......
2006-07-23 11:00:01 · answer #5 · answered by indiegurl 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We only use ten percent of our brain to think with because wat we dont use we lose.
2006-07-22 22:59:01 · answer #6 · answered by joeysgirl89 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
not enough of it.
2006-07-22 19:27:22 · answer #7 · answered by Schnickle 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋