Demystifying the popular myth that we humans only use 10% of our brain capacity

Few years ago, my 10 years old nephew (Ejima) had memorized almost half of the contents found in encarta kids. He seem to be madly in love with knowledge, and has an exceptional kind of brain my mum refer to as "Magnetic brain". Ejima hardly forgets whatever he learns and learns so fast, to the extent that i and my other family members could hardly catch up with him in quiz competitions, no matter how hard we tried.

This led to some family members and neighbours coming up with a conclusion that Ejima uses over 10% of his brain, unlike the average human that uses less than 10%. Even though This sounded so real and interesting, i could not help but make a decision to embark on an intense research, wired around the question "Does anyone really use 10%, below 10%, or above 10% of their brain, or is this just an over popularized myth?"

Introduction

A controversial myth have been ongoing for Decades now. A large percentage of the world's population believe we use only 10 percent of our brain, while the other 90 percent simply stands by. This myth is also believed by some psychology teachers, and is being perpetuated by magazines, movies, public speakers, and a lot more other diverse ways. Surprisingly, a huge percentage of the public have come to the conclusion that this is true.

In time past, different individuals and groups have come up with different reasons why they believe we humans only use 10 percent of our brains. Amongst these beliefs include:

• It is believed in the traditional Asian meditation technique, that the other remaining 90% of the brain is used to extend consciousness, and to exercise ones spirit.

• Some also believe that we would not be able to learn new things if we used our full brain capacity, because the entire capacity of the brain would be exhausted.

• Many others believe that we use 10% of our brain, reserving the other 90% which we end up exhausting in the course of our entire lifetime on earth.

Despite all these popular beliefs, it still hasn't been scientifically proven that we use only 10% of our brain. Yet, people still believe certain parts of the human brain just lie dormant, and termed that zone "Function elusive"

Personally, i think most individuals tend to believe this, because it gives them some sense of opening, that there is room for more intelligence, only if we can find possible ways to use the other 90% of our brains, then we can be like the renowned Albert Einstein or any other genius out there.

Thinking of this, i don't think we really need to overly blame individuals who believe this myth. I mean, who doesn't want some sort of hope in their lives? Hope has a way of increasing our beliefs and drive. There are others that also hold the belief that man can consciously increase his intelligence quotient, only if he can constantly exercise the brain by engaging in certain activities like playing a musical instrument, learning a new language, or even reading a book.

If you are a believer of this idea, i've got good news for you, "YOU ARE RIGHT!". Yes you heard me correctly, you are right. Exercising the brain has a way of keeping the brain healthy and even more active, but will never improve the percentage of brain usage. This is because the brain already has the capacity to function way above 10 percent, if properly utilized. Rather than believing in this myth, i think exercising the brain is a much more better phrase to use.

A Little about the human brain

Made up of billions of nerves, the brain is the most complex organ in the human body, and is responsible for some of the most important functions observed in humans, including: balance coordination, reasoning, and other automatic functions like, heart rate, digestion, breathing and many others. Often referred to as "the muscle of thinking" the brain actually sits in the power house and dictate what our muscles do at any given time. This soft tissue is made up of 4 lobes (frontal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe, temporal lobe)

The frontal lobe of the brain is responsible for certain functions of the brain, like - emotions, planning, movement, reasoning, etc. The parietal lobe is responsible for functions, such as - Orientation, response to stimuli, recognition etc. The occipital lobe is responsible for our visual processing. Finally, the temporal lobe is responsible for certain sensations like taste, sound, sight, touch, etc.

Where did this 10% myth come from??

History is not sure where this myth originated from, but it is popularly traced down to the ideas of the renowned american psychologist Williams James

Williams James in his book The Energies of Men, Wrote..

“We are making use of only a small part of our possible mental and physical resources.”

He also went ahead to say

"Most of us do not meet our mental potential."

I don't think William James was talking of how scant our brain usage is. Rather, I think he meant this as a challenge (Just my opinion though)

It's really no surprise to me that the complete function of the human brain is still a mystery to most people on planet earth. I mean considering the very fact that this same 2kg weight organ performs millions of quotidian acts, compose brilliant symphonies, solve very complicated maths equations, and is also responsible for vital aspects of our lives, include: reasoning, planning, adaptation, behavior, etc.

Did Albert Einstein really use more than 10% Of his brain??

Another famous individual that perpetuated this idea was the renowned Albert Einstein. I mean thesame one that proposed the relativity theory, and masterminded the building of the atomic bomb that was first launched in planet earth. Genius yh?? Lets see about that.

Albert Einstein might be intelligent enough to mastermind the creation of the atomic bomb, but certainty wasnt correct about geniuses using a percentage of their brain which is higher than that of others. Rather, humans uses almost every part of the brain, and they are in use almost all the time, even while sleeping.

Another very unique point of view, is that of "Robynne Boyd", who argued that what we really need to focus our understanding on, is how neurons come from different parts of the brain, to end up stabilizing consciousness in humans, and the mystery that our brain cells are made up of 10% neurons and 90% glial cells, who encloses and support neurons, whose functions humans hardly know. The ratio of glial cells to neurons in the brain is 10:1 Concluding that, after all is said and done, the real matter isn't that we use only 10% of our brains, but that we only comprehend 10% of our brain functions.

Again, Robynne Boyd has got an interesting point of view here. But resent research findings reveal that the glial cells performs much more important functions than just serving as connective and connective tissues

In time past, a certain misconception gained popularity, that Glial cells act only as supportive tissues to neurons. This misconception went on for a while, until recent advanced research discovered that glial cells actually do way more than that. Beyond physical support, Glial cells can inhibit or activate neurons, glial cells can also control activities of neurons. A better way of understanding this is seeing the neurons as nouns, and the glial cells are the pronouns, adjectives, verbs, and the other parts of speech.

From this perspective, we get to understand that glial cells are an integral part of neural activities. Understanding that glial cells are not just supportive or connective tissues and has its own functions in the nervous system, we now get the fact that every part of our brain is always constantly active. So yes, It is possible to use 100% of your brain. But do we always do so? The answer is no. Humans are habitual beings. there is a connection between our habits and our brain.

Lets view brain utilization from an elevated view

When we observe certain habits, what we are simply doing, is activating certain neuronal pathways which are habitual pathways that dominates our every day life.

Taking brain utilization to the next level. If you can engage in whole brain activity, you can improve consciousness and ability to navigate your life to wherever you want to. If we don't consciously engage in whole brain activities, we are just going to stick to certain neuronal pathways, which are habits that occur subconsciously, day in day out. This of course leads to leaving a Large amount of our brain functions idle.

One very effective way to activate the entire brain is to engage in activities like brain gym. Brain gym simultaneously exercises the body and the nervous system. With both of our brain hemisphere working together, we activate positive dimensions like exceptional learning, fixing of attention deficit disorder issues, etc.

Just like we don't use all our muscles at the same time, we dont use our entire brain functions simultaneously

What does advanced brain scanning/imaging have to say about this

A neurological research which was conducted in early 20th century, concluded that only 10% of our brain neurons are functional, this led to even more individuals believing the 10% brain myth. This went on and on, until it was later discovered that only about 10% of the brain actually contains neurons, with the rest 90% being glial cells, which regulates neurons in diverse ways

Let's consider this myth from a totally different angle. Proton emissions, tomography, PET, functional magnetic resonance imaging and other advanced technologies, have proven to us that even while we are sleeping, there are some sort of activities going on in every part of our brain. Different kinds of researches are still ongoing, as regards the functions of the different parts of the brain. So far, there is still no concrete evidence that any part of our brain is nonfunctional.

Contrary to what most media companies would make a large percentage of the public believe, we humans utilize every part of our brain. If not why would damage to just a small portion of the brain that includes the so called "*unused 90%" affect an individual in any way.

How can we be sure our brains are working even while we are sleeping, reading a book, listening to music or laughing. The answer to this again, is present in neuroimaging techniques like PET scans. This technique, also help us see the brain in action, and how they get activated in simple tasks.

My further thought on this subject matter

The movie industry also played a major role in perpetrating the 10% brain use myth. An example of this, is seen in the movie "Lucy" where Morgan Freeman gave his attractive speech..

Imagine if we could access 100% of our brains, interesting things begin to happen...

How do you explain the very fact that we get the solutions to some of our problems when we haven't been thinking about it in a while or have you every heard some one tell you "let me sleep over it" have you ever woken up from sleep and all of a sudden gotten a brilliant idea or an answer to a long lasting question in your heart? I'l just allow us ponder on the above question.

Additionally, If this was true, then we should look for ways to retain 90% of our brain after a stroke or any sort of damage that occurs in the region where the so called "unused 90%" is located. But there is no kind of brain damage that doesn't end up in some kind of physical or mental damage. also we could cut out a portion of our brain like the case of an appendix.

Final thoughts

In conclusion, we can actually use 100% of our brain but we must consciously do this, because its possible to just go on and on repeating daily patterns or habits which does not require using 100% of our brain . so don't get stuck in the 10% brain usage myth, you can use 100% if you can be deliberate about it, stay conscious. Oh! about my nephew Ejima? his case was that of "accelerated learning" which does not prove he uses more percentage of his brain than others.

Thanks for your time,
written by: @akiripromise

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Reference

[1] Human brain, wikipedia

[2] Neuroimaging, wikipedia

[3] 10% brain myth, wikipedia

[4] Brain facts and myth

[5] Bbc.com

[6] Scientific American

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