• Question: Is it true that we use only 10% of ours brains,if so why?

    Asked by smartiepants to Kimberley, Amy, Drew, Julia, Sara on 22 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by butters, kjelpke.
    • Photo: Kimberley Bryon

      Kimberley Bryon answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      No, this is a common urban myth. In fact, we use almost the whole of our brain over the course of a day. We probably only understand about 10% of how the brain functions which is where the myth might come from.

    • Photo: Amy MacQueen

      Amy MacQueen answered on 21 Jun 2011:

      I’m glad that we don’t only use 10%…I like to think that its filling my head for a purpose! We don’t understand everything about the brain which is where some of these stats come from!

      Here’s an article in the Scientific American about it! http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=do-we-really-use-only-10

    • Photo: Drew Rae

      Drew Rae answered on 21 Jun 2011:

      The 10% figure has been quoted for years, but it is simply not true and doesn’t come from anywhere trustworthy.

    • Photo: Julia Griffen

      Julia Griffen answered on 21 Jun 2011:

      I hope I dont use 10%… be horrible to think I wasn;t workin to full capacity.. cus it certainly feel like it sometimes!! 🙂

    • Photo: Sara Imari Walker

      Sara Imari Walker answered on 22 Jun 2011:

      Hi smartiepants, butters, and kjelpke! It is not true. Since I was curious to learn more I looked it up. Here’s a cool article I found in SciAm by a brain-scientist who gets this question all the time. He has some interesting arguments as to why it can’t be true, so you may want to check it out: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=do-we-really-use-only-10

      Really great question!! I learned a lot from it! =)

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