ANSWERS: 24
  • I believe it is. But I like Terry Prachett's theory: that we use 10% of our brain to think with, and the other 90% to make the unexplainable and wonderous to be explainable and mundane.
  • Yes there is much more to the human brain than we actually know how to use. I think in the future as life evolves we will start to use more of our brains
  • I think that I actually use less than that. LOL. I'm saving the rest for later...
  • I think we use 10% of our brain for concious thought and the other 90% for sub-concious procceses such as breathing, heart pumping, processing images, sounds,etc.
  • I'm using the other 90% percent to store MP3s.
  • Maybe, but if you use even less, you get to be an AB troll..
  • I think when we are resting, that may be true, but for all the multi tasking that I do at work, and memorizing over 500 different things, for different customers, I use more while I am at work, if not, I can't wait to use the rest of it!! :)~
  • Possible. I heard that when you're sleeping you're using more of your brain then when you're watching television. It's in my 'the paranoid's pocket handbook'. ^____^
  • Since we have creditcards, we don't need our brains to help in creating our basic needs...;-) I think it's true. Once a scan was made from a boy. His brainsize was about 5%; the rest was fluid. He functioned normal. I think the brains capacity is immense, but we only use 1 lane of the 10 lane freeway. the structure seems a bit disorganised and less effective. Eyewithness reports often differ significant. People can train their brains, just as their body, and use more of its capacity. And to some extend, another part of your brain can take over, when something is damaged. The more basic the function, the harder to take over. After a stroke, things like controlling breath (semi-concious), heartbeat (unconcious) or walking (concious) are likely beyond repair. These area's in the stem are mainly "hard-wired", while other, more misty functions (like imagination&creativity) are mostly just software. Our brain uses about 1/3 of our energy and oxygen allready (just look where the main outlet from the heart splits up; 2/3 goes down stairs, 1/3 of the blood goes upstairs.) I wonder what would happen if we used 100% of our brain; would they fry themselves? Can our body coop?
  • Its that 10% thats here on AB!
  • That explains a bit about the trolls then, very limited brain functionality. They probably only use 5%.
  • 10%? Whoa! In my case that is an exageration. I probably only ever use half of that! Lol.
  • what brain....
  • As far as I know, this factoid dates back to an off-the-cuff remark by Albert Einstein - who was a physicist, not a neurologist. I don't think ye meant it literally, I think he meant that most people don't bother to use their brains to think about hard problems such as he did. He was, to some extent, being modest, suggesting that the only way that he was special was that he made his brain work, whereas most people don't.
  • If you build a bookcase for 500 books and only place 10 books on it. Why did God create us with such a large brain? he must have had a greater purpose for us when building the first humans.
  • How much of our brain is in use varies by the level of stimulation, activity and degree of consciousness. Every part of the brain is capable of performing at least one function. Often, in the case of brain damage, a different portion of the brain can adapt to perform the tasks of the damaged portion. Much of the primitive brain stem regulates body processes. The "new" brain is responsible for perception and higher level thought and language. Ideas and thoughts are stored over a dispersed network of neurons around the cerebrum/cerebellum, I believe. The point is ALL our brain serves a purpose. It is like a high horse powered engine in one sense. You may have 300 HP, but only use 100 HP under normal driving, but the remaining horses are under the hood, waiting for you to depress the accelerator.
  • Complete and total myth. I have no idea where that came from. I've studied psychology since my junior year of hjigh school and through two years of college. None of my professors, text books, etc, have ever said that this has a grain of truth to it. In fact, I've heard nothing but scoffing at it. Physically, it makes no sense, becasue every lobe has a purpose, and our brains utilize all of them. I suppose you could argue about the amount of use, but there is no way to prove any of it.
  • I'm not too sure on that one... I have heard it said the whole 10% theory... But as we all know, we use every part of brain (or for the most part) at one time or another... But to try and attain even 50% of your brains functionability at once, that would be like driving a car, reciting the alphabet backwards, counting on your fingers in English and your toes in another language you might know, reading a newspaper, holding a phone conversation, remembering every detail of your life, etc. etc. all at the same time... not possible... (If you try all that... your dumb!!!) It has also been said that through using forms of experimental drugs, we open up different parts of our brains that would normally lie dormant or be able to use multiple parts of our brains simoltaniously... For example (from personal experience) .... I noticed while I was on ecstasy I could hold a conversation, listen to a different conversation, watch a movie, hum or whistle a song while a different song was playing, give someone a "light show" and listen to birds chirping outside our window all at the same time... and I did this with ease... But the next day I could hardly hold a conversation, watch a movie, cook and look out the window at the same time... Different things allow our brains to work and function at different rates... So I say yes to the 10%, being that is the average amount a person's brain will function at one time...
  • Yes,there is a lot more to our brains that we are unable to use,i recon in time as we progress in the generations we will start to use other parts of the brain. Its just not our time yet,is there some times a feeling you get that theres somethink else you can do but your not sure what it is??i recon this is to do with the part of the brain we do not use.
  • This is a myth. We use our whole brain- Well, most of us do. http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/tenper.html http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v21/i2/brain.asp
  • I've been told that's not really what that mean. It's not that we have a brain we're only 10% of it WORKS, it's that we only use 10% of our brains AT A TIME to do things. There's never a time when every single part of our brain is active in doing something. Now, I think that there probably are parts that we don't understand how to use to their full potential, but I think someday we will. It's just a matter of time and study.
  • This is not true at all. We utilize every part of our brain. It is divided into different sections, each of which we use. Except for maybe the person who made that one up.
  • "Humans use only 10% or less of their brain" is a common misconception: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_misconceptions_about_the_brain http://www.snopes.com/science/stats/10percent.asp http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/pdf/tenper.pdf Source: http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/4352098
  • People who believe this are only using 10% of their brains. :)

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