Is it an urban legend?

Question

Do we humans use 10% of our brains or do we use 100%?

If only 10 then ow does one use the other 90%?

Where did that legend start as well?

Answer 1

It is a myth. I'm not sure how it started, but for proof, consider this:
When people go blind, their hearing and other senses get better. In other words, when we stop using part of our brain for one sense, we start using it for another. We are always using every part of our brain.

Answer 2

Yes, this is an urban legend. If someone removed 90% of your brain you would die.

It is currently understood that not all parts of the brain are "active" at any one moment, but all parts will be used depending on what you're doing. It is believed that certain parts of the brain are responsible for different activities, e.g. for speaking, understanding language, moving muscles, planning, etc; if you're performing a reasonably complex task, e.g. talking on the phone while preparing dinner, you'll be using almost all of your brain at the same time (e.g. interpreting sound signals from your ears, understanding language, composing a response, forming the response into words, sending signals to your mouth to say the words, all the while stirring the pot on the stove, and planning what ingredients will be needed next, etc. etc.).

The origin of the myth is unclear, see the Snopes article (link below) for more info.

Answer 3

I might be promulgating another myth but what I've read is that some doctor took a look at lots and lots of people (autopsies?) who had hurt themselves. He started with a model of a whole brain and marked any areas which were "gone" in one person who functioned "normally". Then he moved on to another and marked that on the same model. When he got done, he published his results concluding that only 10% of the brain was necessary for normal behavior because only 10% of his model brain was left unmarked. Modern brain activity probes show it to be false - we use all of our brains, but maybe not all of it every second. This study was done in the 19th or early 20th century. It was probably distorted in the newspapers, just like modern studies are mangled today.

Answer 4

The best answer I have heard is that 10% is thinking and the rest is programming overhead. I think it was a slight at Microsoft.

But that is not such a crazy thought, as almost every measure we can do mechanically shows very little use for thought, but it has also been shown that most of the brain is used for other stuff.

After all, the brain has evolved to do many tasks that never included philosophical thought, so the only real surprise is that there is any room at all for such a thing.

Answer 5

Urban legend. Nobody knows exactly when or how it originated, but entered the popular literature around 1900. Probably due to early brain research, showing functionality even when animal brains were seriously damaged.

Answer 6

I heard something like that also. But it being an urban legend I did not know. If we indeed do use only 10% of our brain, then just imagine what we could accomplish...We may be able to think in a whole new advanced way. But hey who knows.

Answer 7

You only have to look at the cascade across the screen, when doing a fMRI, to know that all of the brain is being used. The legend is a misrepresentation of very primitive brain scans. I am not familiar with the particulars, but someone here may enlighten you.

eri got it.

Answer 8

This is a myth.
Your 'brain' is not one big component. It is a grouping of many structures with many different functions. Part of your brain handles higher functions, like abstract thought (frontal lobe). Parts handle your involuntary actions, like digestion. Some handle speech.

So, the 10% myth is just that, a myth.

Answer 9

I think you might just need 10%.

There was an AMerican guy I knew who got brain cancer or tumors, they ended up removing most of his brain except for the reptilian parts. He couldn't talk or move around, but he could breath and even eat on his own.

Answer 10

It's an urban legend.

It began with a misunderstanding of a quote by Einstein.