Brain Myth: Do We Only Use Ten Percent of the Brain?

The biggest difference between humans and other animals in this vast biosphere is the brain. The brain's structure, function, high neuron density and its ability to interact with other organs of the body make humans unique from other animals. Since the beginning of existence, humans have used this brain to make all timeless discoveries, write history and give a better life to the next generation. How many legends have been born by creating something new from the food of thought.

But the brain that has been used to do so much, many mysteries of the brain still remain elusive to scientists. Over the years we have discovered many new insights into the brain, some of which have replaced old ones, while others still stand on the evidence base. And so many rumors and strange myths have been born because of this doubt. Again, many of those myths have been proven wrong based on irrefutable evidence, and none of them have yet been proven. How many neurons can you tell in the brain of a normal adult? The answer is about 86 billion. And each of these neurons has about 10,000 synaptic connections. And in all, the total number stands at 100 trillion, the highest estimate of which can reach 1,000 trillion. So many neurons and synapses keep the whole body communicating with the brain through electrical and chemical signals every moment. Well, when solving a mathematical problem or a difficult intellectual task, have you thought how much of your brain you are using? Maybe you have seen in a motivational speech, a popular movie, a book or a social media, 'People only use ten percent of their brains!'

Well, then the remaining ninety percent are sitting idle? Or is there an invisible wall separating them from the active part of your brain? If you were 100% in control, could you be the superhero you want to be! Or a supernatural power like telekinetic power was born in you! Or the best scientists like Einstein and Newton to use only one hundred percent of their brain! Among other common myths of the brain, this myth of ten percent of the human brain is also very common. Surprisingly, this myth is believed by two-thirds of people and almost half of science teachers in the United States alone.

No one knows exactly who originated this myth. However, in the eighties of the nineteenth century, the famous American psychologist William James said after a boy's IQ test that people do not use all of their brains correctly. And in the misinterpretation of this statement, the use of that ten percent of the brain in the human mind gets stronger. This untested strange theory began to spread across the country through various propaganda media, magazines and people. Not only that, this theory can also be seen in some famous Hollywood movies like Lucy, Limitless, Flight of the Navigator. Basically, he meant that many of us cannot properly stimulate the brain in our thinking or accept it as a challenge. It is heard again that the name of the legendary scientist Einstein is also involved in this incident because of such statements.

But we all actually only use one hundred percent of our brains at the end of the day. How? Before that, let's see why this popular myth is wrong? Well, if ninety percent of the brain is not useful, then if they are injured or damaged, we should not have any problem physically or mentally. But is it really so?

Technology in the 19th century was not as sophisticated as it is today. So for a long time, scientists did not know the role of frontal lobe and parietal lobe, a large area of our brain! They assumed they had no function as no injury had any effect on the neural stimulation of the brain. And so for decades they were known to scientists as the 'Silent Area', so many thought the ten percent usage idea was true.

But now we know that these regions play a major role in our reasoning, planning, decision-making and situational adaptation. And reveals us fully as human beings. If a part of the brain is damaged, even if we don't see its effect in normal life, it actually creates abnormality in a special case. Generally, the human brain is only two percent of the whole body in terms of weight. But this brain uses about twenty percent of the total glucose of the whole body as its own fuel. And that amount is 50 percent for an infant and 60 percent for a newborn, while rodent and dog species use about five percent of total body glucose and monkeys about ten percent of energy. So if ninety percent is unused, what does the brain do with this twenty percent energy? This amount of energy is more than the work of only ten percent of the brain. The human brain weighs approximately 1.5 kilograms, while an elephant's brain weighs 5 kilograms and a whale's 9 kilograms. But the presence of 86 billion neurons in this 1.5 kg brain increased the density of the brain many times. And that made us more intelligent. But I have already said that intelligent brain requires a lot of energy. 3.4×1021 molecules of ATP per minute. ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) is the body's fuel.

And through the sparse coding method, the brain communicates more information with less energy consumption. And leaving 90% idle will never require that much power. Besides, if any part of the brain is unnecessary, that part would have been eliminated long ago through the evolution of genes.

But the brain never uses a hundred parts simultaneously. Certain parts of the brain are stimulated for specific tasks. Between one and sixteen percent of the brain can be found active at any given moment. Scientists have also examined the brain that is active even during sleep. Communication with that part of your brain will be greater at that moment when you do the task. And so if you try to do more than two things at the same time, you won't be able to get any of them done properly, because your brain can't provide enough attention for two tasks at once.

In this 21st century era of information technology, the opportunity of research on the living brain has enabled us to break so many mistakes. Through EEG, PET, fMRI we now know which brain regions respond to what task. How that brain scanning is done is left for another day. You can read this article of Ror Bangla to know more common myths about the brain.

So stop wasting time thinking your brain is lazy or ineffective. This group of 86 billion may not give you any supernatural powers, but they are smart enough to do anything impossible. So why the delay? Energize these starving neurons and get to work with renewed vigor.