How much of our brain do we use?

by sleepy 16 Replies latest jw friends

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  sleepy

  this was from another post.

  Apostate man "the human mind is a wonderful healing device and we only use about 10% of it."
  Xander '*bzzzzt* Sorry, urban legend. We use 100%.

  Now I've heared this being discussed a few times here before,
  but i think the piont is being missed.
  although we use all our brains funtions we do not use it all to its full potential.
  Of cource no one knows what its full potential is and it probably varies from person to person anyway.
  But when scientists talk of using 10% of the brain what i think is meant is 10% of its potential, where as we use all our brain funtions .The fact that we use all of our Brains funtions is what is meant when other scientists say we use 100% of the brain.
  
  Just like we use all of our computer to play a basic game, but not its full potential .When we play a game wih complex graphics and sound etc we are using the same parts but to a higher degree.
• 

  Doc_jedd

  ....Kinda like owning a brand new Dodge Viper and only driving it at 55 mph..................Jedd
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  Haereticus

  If we would use only 10 % of our brain how come shotwound in brain is so lethal?
• 

  dmouse

  Check out this site, Sleepy, the myth you refer to is top of the page (No. 1)

  http://www.skepdic.com/refuge/suburbanmyths.html
• 

  cynicus

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=19073&site=3

  ---
  Every absurdity has a champion to defend it.
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  sleepy

  This site also seams to miss the point.

  When people say we use 10% of the brain they may not have in mind 10% of the physical structre , but 10% of its capabilities.

  If we use 100% of our brain capabilites all the time then we could never learn anything new as our brain would be full.
  But our brain just doesn't work like that.

  Do you know for example that you can only use a tiny fraction of your potential muscle strength?
  Our body limits the amount of muscle fibres than can be contracted at will.
  Extreme stress can raise these limits , enableing you to perform extraordinary tasks.
  If you recive an electric shock, the electric current can cause all your fibres to contract at once, which can send you flying across the room, or if in the palm of your hand causing it to contract onto the wire to such a degree that you cant open you hand, gluing you to the current.

  The fact is we can learn new tasks , personalities can change , the brain is not set in stone.
  It does not make sense to say we use the full potential of our brain.At what point in life would this be anyway, when you are 5 , 10 , 20, 100?
  Maybe all parts are involved to a degree , but that degree can vary.
• 

  Moxy

  heres another good write-up: http://www.snopes2.com/science/stats/10percnt.htm

  how would you possibly measure the total 'potential' of a brain and the current used 'potential?' while it might be meaningful to say that someone has an under-used mind, to try and place a percentage on it betrays a lack of understanding about how the brain actually works.

  mox
• 

  expatbrit

  I use a lot of my brain. It's spongy texture is perfect for soaking up alcohol.

  Expatbrit
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  Xander

  If we use 100% of our brain capabilites all the time then we could never learn anything new as our brain would be full.

  This question appears to reveal a basic mis-understanding of how the brain works, and is outside the original discussion.

  The neurons (cells that make up your brain) build connections with other neurons to form memories. New connections can be built all the time, which gives you the ability to remember things. Note that the brain is also very good at 'discarding' (not actually destroying, but 'marking for deletion' in a computer sense) memories that aren't really needed, so if, for example, you happened to live a very long life with lots of experiences, you'd never run out of room to store relevant memories.

  Memory, for instance, seems to be distributed across the whole population of neurons in the networks used to store it. So even in persons who do not have the need to store a great amount of information, the neurons are not left unused !
  --Prof. Renato M.E. Sabbatini, PhD, Director, Center for Biomedical Informatics State University of Campinas Email: [email protected]

  With the above....IOW, you DO use 100% of your brain. What happens, over time, that allows you to add additional memories is that your brain is dynamically optimizing how it is storing the data.

  Xander F
  (Unseen Apostate Directorate of North America - Ohio order)

  A fanatic is one who, upon losing sight of his goals, redoubles his efforts.
  --George Santayana
• 

  patio34

  Hi Sleepy,

  You said

  But when scientists talk of using 10% of the brain what i think is meant is 10% of its potential, where as we use all our brain funtions .

  And Xander, you said

  The neurons (cells that make up your brain) build connections with other neurons to form memories. New connections can be built all the time, which gives you the ability to remember things.

  My theory, which isn't even half-baked, even when the WTS speculated and posited "how wonderful it will be to use our whole brains in paradise..", was that it was only in reference to the potential for new connections that wasn't fully used. In other words, the synapses, i believe, had great potential. It was our memory that wasn't used to capacity. Nor the connections that come from learning that aren't fully used.

  It was likened to a computer on this thread. Also, it could be like a road system that you usually travel the same roads. But often you vary it and make new connections/routes with different roads, thus using more of it.

  Not some mysterious super-genius capability waiting to be tapped.