It is said that even the smartest people only use 10% of their brain, do we have the capacity to exceed that?

Question

Albert Einstein used only about 10% of his mental capacity throughout his lifetime. Why is it that we cannot tap the other 90%? We can teach stroke victims to learn how to function again but are they only regaining what they have lost or are they tapping into what they have not already used?

Answer 1

The 10 percent statistic has been attributed to the pioneering psychologist and philosopher William James (1842-1910). I haven't been able to confirm that he gave a specific percentage, but he did say "we are making use of only a small part of our possible mental and physical resources" (The Energies of Men, 1908). The anthropologist Margaret Mead supposedly said we used 6 percent. Similar numbers have been mentioned by various lesser known parties.

Whatever the source, such figures have no scientific basis except in the most limited sense. Serious brain researchers say that while we perhaps don't use our brains as efficiently as we might, there's no evidence we have vast unused abilities.

Admittedly no one has ever tested all the tens of billions of neurons in a given brain. You've certainly got a few spares; otherwise no one would recover from a stroke. But attempts to map out the cerebral cortex, the center of the higher mental functions, have not found large areas that don't do anything. The general view is that the brain is too small (just three pounds), uses too many resources (20 percent of body oxygen utilization though it accounts for just 2 percent of weight), and has too much to do for 90 percent of it to be completely comatose.

Obviously not all the brain is in use at once. At any given time about 5 percent of the neurons are active, the only sense in which the old saw is even close to true. (Good thing, too, or you'd have the equivalent of a grand mal seizure, a mental electrical storm in which all the neurons fire continually.) The parts of the brain are highly specialized, and some areas are more active than others depending on the task at hand. But all the parts do something, and it seems safe to say that over time you use pretty much all your brain, just as most people use all their muscles to some degree.

In fact, muscles are a useful analogy. While we probably don't have much extra capacity in the sense of unused neurons, it's possible we have untapped potential. Studies with rats suggest that just as muscles grow stronger with exercise, so does the brain. Rats raised in stimulating environments had thicker cerebral cortexes, larger neurons, more connections between neurons, more glial (support) cells, and so on. In other words, good books, snappy conversation, and a regular dose of the Straight Dope may make you smarter. But don't get your hopes up. Skeptics say what the rat studies prove is not that an enriched environment will make you smarter, only that a deprived one will make you dumber.

But wait, you say. What about memory? Obviously we accumulate memories; obviously also the brain is finite and has some limit to its capacity. What percentage of memory capacity do we use? We don't know enough even to hazard a guess. Old people find it harder to learn, but that's probably more due to deterioration and rigidity (which may or may not have some neurological basis) than a lack of capacity.

Some popular beliefs about brains do have a basis in fact. Though the question is still disputed, it's possible that after age 30 you do lose 100,000 brain cells a day (or at least some large number). Studies suggest that between early adulthood and age 90 the cortex loses between 10 and 30 percent of its neurons. The remaining neurons develop more cross connections with other cells, presumably to help pick up the load. Booze probably snuffs a few brain cells, too. At any rate it kills nerve cells in rats. All in all, not very encouraging. Not only do you not have great neural reserves, what you do have is drifting away like dandelion seeds.

Answer 2

That is just a myth.

Where Did the 10% Myth Begin?
The 10% statement may have been started with a misquote of Albert Einstein or the misinterpretation of the work of Pierre Flourens in the 1800s. It may have been William James who wrote in 1908: "We are making use of only a small part of our possible mental and physical resources" (from The Energies of Men, p. 12). Perhaps it was the work of Karl Lashley in the 1920s and 1930s that started it. Lashley removed large areas of the cerebral cortex in rats and found that these animals could still relearn specific tasks. We now know that destruction of even small areas of the human brain can have devastating effects on behavior. That is one reason why neurosurgeons must carefully map the brain before removing brain tissue during operations for epilepsy or brain tumors: they want to make sure that essential areas of the brain are not damaged.

Why Does the Myth Continue?
Somehow, somewhere, someone started this myth and the popular media keep on repeating this false statement (see the figures). Soon, everyone believes the statement regardless of the evidence. I have not been able to track down the exact source of this myth, and I have never seen any scientific data to support it.

According to the believers of this myth, if we used more of our brain, then we could perform super memory feats and have other fantastic mental abilities - maybe we could even move objects with a single thought. Again, I do not know of any data that would support any of this.

Answer 3

Unfortunately our limitations lie within our brain. We as a people have become so arrogant and full of pride, it is doubtful that we are even at 10% now, not to mention being able to exceed that. Albert Einstein understood something about the world and the people around. Something that he hoped to be able to set an example that people would learn from. That something was simply this: we are not the greatest, we are not the best and we are most definitely not the smartest, we only think we are. Instead we remember him by using his face to advertise mattresses. I am sure he would be flattered.
To answer you question: In short, we cannot tap into that 90% because we do not deserve it. In life, if you want something you must earn it.

Answer 4

The 10% thing is a myth that has been repeated so many times it is believed by a lot of people. It is not based on any kind of evidence.

Answer 5

The brain is not one single organ, it is several different parts that work together. Speech, abstract thought, emotion, and memory all result from different areas of the brain.

What I am saying is that the 10% comment is incorrect.

Answer 6

I have heard this old wives tale all myb life. It's false.We use ALL of our brain capacity. There are no untapped brain cells lying dormant within our cerebral cortex.

Answer 7

That is a farce...we use 100% of our brain..it was made up to make people believe we 'could' be divine...in reality, we use all of our brain and our brains evolve..so better things (hopefully) will be down the road

Answer 8

The 10% thing is an urban legend. You use all of your brain. Or at least, most of us do.

Answer 9

Yep, we only use 10% at any given time, and people really need to stop spreading the rumor that it's ever.

Answer 10

We use all of our brains, all of the time. That 10% thing is an urban legend.