Comments on: The ten percent of the brain myth: a fractional truth http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/06/04/the-ten-percent-of-the-brain-myth-a-fractional-truth/ Skepticism. Critical thinking. Podcast. Community. Thu, 04 Dec 2008 18:49:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 By: Andras Varga http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/06/04/the-ten-percent-of-the-brain-myth-a-fractional-truth/#comment-473 Andras Varga Mon, 28 Jul 2008 04:48:18 +0000 http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/06/04/the-ten-percent-of-the-brain-myth-a-fractional-truth/#comment-473 It's like those commercials in which you can get "30% thicker hair", by using some product. You can't check that, can you? I'm smarter than most of the people. I use 13,83% of my brain:) It’s like those commercials in which you can get “30% thicker hair”, by using some product. You can’t check that, can you? I’m smarter than most of the people. I use 13,83% of my brain:)

]]> By: siukong http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/06/04/the-ten-percent-of-the-brain-myth-a-fractional-truth/#comment-369 siukong Fri, 13 Jun 2008 11:23:50 +0000 http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/06/04/the-ten-percent-of-the-brain-myth-a-fractional-truth/#comment-369 I seem to remember reading somewhere that this myth all started with a scientist in the early 20th century being misquoted in a newspaper article. Sadly though, I've been unable to track down where I read this. The results of brain damage show pretty irrevocably that we use ALL of our brain. One should also bear in mind that, being a complicated network of neurons, the brain is not split neatly into discrete functional compartments. This can make it difficult to determine just what a particular area does, but by no means does it signify uselessness. -"Nobody knows what part of the brain allows him to recognize that he is seeing a dog" To David, I would say we have at least a crude understanding of quite a bit more than 10% of the brain. And even though we may not know the exact area involved in your example, it's quite easy to explain given our brain's tendency to generalize and look for patterns. I don't know if it's the case with your son, but young children often use the label 'doggie' quite loosely. It's usually an early-learned word and they often overgeneralize it to most four-legged creatures they see that resemble their rough mental image of a dog (similar to their overuse of the "-ed" past participle with different verbs). I seem to remember reading somewhere that this myth all started with a scientist in the early 20th century being misquoted in a newspaper article. Sadly though, I’ve been unable to track down where I read this.

The results of brain damage show pretty irrevocably that we use ALL of our brain. One should also bear in mind that, being a complicated network of neurons, the brain is not split neatly into discrete functional compartments. This can make it difficult to determine just what a particular area does, but by no means does it signify uselessness.

-”Nobody knows what part of the brain allows him to recognize that he is seeing a dog”

To David, I would say we have at least a crude understanding of quite a bit more than 10% of the brain. And even though we may not know the exact area involved in your example, it’s quite easy to explain given our brain’s tendency to generalize and look for patterns. I don’t know if it’s the case with your son, but young children often use the label ‘doggie’ quite loosely. It’s usually an early-learned word and they often overgeneralize it to most four-legged creatures they see that resemble their rough mental image of a dog (similar to their overuse of the “-ed” past participle with different verbs).

]]> By: David http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/06/04/the-ten-percent-of-the-brain-myth-a-fractional-truth/#comment-362 David Tue, 10 Jun 2008 13:50:53 +0000 http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/06/04/the-ten-percent-of-the-brain-myth-a-fractional-truth/#comment-362 I'm no Neuroscientist (my wife is), so take this with agrain of salt. There are many functions that the brain performs which have been localized, either through the study of brain injuries or functional neuro-imaging. There are however functions that have not yet been localized. For example, when my 3 year old sees a dog, even one that is a different breed, color, shape, size, etc than all of the dogs to which he has previously been exposed, he knows what it is. Nobody knows what part of the brain allows him to recognize that he is seeing a dog - so when someone says that you use only 10% of your brain I explain that and say, perhaps it is that we only understand what 10% of the brain is doing and the other 90% is doing the things which occur we don't know where. I’m no Neuroscientist (my wife is), so take this with agrain of salt.

There are many functions that the brain performs which have been localized, either through the study of brain injuries or functional neuro-imaging. There are however functions that have not yet been localized. For example, when my 3 year old sees a dog, even one that is a different breed, color, shape, size, etc than all of the dogs to which he has previously been exposed, he knows what it is. Nobody knows what part of the brain allows him to recognize that he is seeing a dog - so when someone says that you use only 10% of your brain I explain that and say, perhaps it is that we only understand what 10% of the brain is doing and the other 90% is doing the things which occur we don’t know where.

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