Could we function if we could use 100% of our brain?

Question

It's said we only use 10% of our brain, is this just the normal status and based on the amount of brain used at one time, or could we actually function with 100% use of our brains?

Answer 1

There is no scientific evidence to suggest that we use only 10% of our brains. In other words, the statement, "We use only 10% of our brains" is false; it's a myth. We use all of our brain. Let's look at the possible origins of this myth and the evidence that we use all of our brain. 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.

In other words you watch too much TV and Movies... which in fact MAY reduce your brain function.....lol

Answer 2

I have no idea where this myth about only using 10% of our brain originated, or when. But it ain't true.

The first thing to remember is that different areas of the brain have different functions - though most activities involve several areas of the brain working together - a sort of team process.
For the same reason there is seldom if ever a time when the entire brain is working at full throttle.

I've seen various explanations of how the 10% figure came about, but even the guys at "Scientific American MIND" couldn't come up with a definitive explanation. My own favourite, FWIW, concerns the types of cell in the brain.

Everyone knows about the neurons - not so many know about glial cells.

Until quite recently it was thought that the glial cells were nothing more than a support system. That they weren't involved in the thinking functions, they just carried nutients to the neurons and carried away the garbage, etc.

Now, the neurons make up 10 billion of the approx. 100 billion cells in the average healthy brain - and the other 90 billion are glial cells.
So MAYBE whoever came up with that statistic meant that we only use the 10% of the brain made up of neurons.

BTW, in the last few years research has begun to show that glial cells aren't just "dumb waiters" to the neurons, they seem to have a whole range of functions that they perform.

So even if the explanation I suggested is indeed how the 10% myth came about, the figure of 10% still isn't accurate.

Answer 3

There is no scientific evidence to suggest that we use only 10% of our brains. It is in fact a myth. Studies have shown every part of the brain has a known function. The reason people say we only use 10% is because at any given time only 10% of neurons are firing. When more neurons fire all at once the result is a seizure. Also, interesting enough, studies have shown that the brains of more intelligent people are less active than the brains of less intelligent people.

Answer 4

It's said, but it's a myth.

Someone came up with that number, and it got repeated and printed and everyone believes it, but there's nothing behind it.

We pretty much use all of our brains pretty much all the time. Oh, some parts are less active when we're doing this or that particular thing, but it's not like most of it is just sitting there.

If you're interested in brain stuff, you could check out the Instant Expert and Special Report pages of New Scientist (a UK magazine of science news).

www.newscientist.com

Answer 5

The 10% thing is a myth.

We do use 100% of our brain--at least all the parts that are still living and healthy.

Answer 6

Animals are not so different from plants and other living beings. The brain is mostly used for motion and coordination, so using a hundred percent of your brain is an every day thing

Answer 7

No. Some of the neurons in our nervous system are actually inhibited (i.e. prevented from transmitting impulses and thus prevented from being active), so that we can function normally. One example of this is 'lateral inhibition', where neuron #1 inhibits adjacent neurons, so that the information passing through neuron #1 is sharpened, by preventing the signals in it from passing laterally to other neurons. This occurs during muscle activity.

We'd go beserk and be uncoordinated if all our neurons were active, i.e. our brain was fully functional, using all its neurons at the same time.

Answer 8

The 10% stat is a bit of a misnomer. At a given moment you are using about 10% of your brian. You use all 100% of your brian in total, but at certain times you are not using parts which are necessary at that time.

Answer 9

Normal people use 2-7 % of thier brain. Great thinker and scientist use 7-12% of their brain. You cannot use 100% brain. If you will cross more than 10% you will react like a mad man. Or you may die also.

Answer 10

No! There is a link between seizures and to much brain activity!