Why Mythbusters Rule! (Only 10% of Your Brain Myth...)

[liz_marcs]

One of my all-time red buttons is when any tv show, movie, book, magazine article, fanfic, ect., ect., ect. makes the positively ridiculous claim:

"We only use 10% of our brains."

If the media involves medicine or science in any way shape, shape, or form, my reaction is:

Dear INTERNETS/TEEVEE/MAGAZINE/BOOK:

We use all of our brains. Every last bit. If you are talking about the ability to think abstractly, you’re right. That job is the job of the cerebral cortex, which is only a section of the brain. But all the other bits of the brain? They have jobs, too. Like giving you the ability to breathe and blink.

I know it doesn’t sound like an impressive job (although, I, personally, think the autonomic nervous system is a very impressive thing), but just try losing the ability to breathe and blink.

Now that you’ve thought about it, I’m sure that you will agree that the brain is a very, very busy beaver in which all parts are in use.

Get a basic anatomy and physiology book like the kind they give out in high school and crack the spine just once so you can look at the chapter on the brain. Kthanxbi.

Not-so-lovingly-yours,
Moi

Who, in fact, uses 100% of her brain (although I'm beginning to doubt that the same is true of you).

Okay...no. You got me. It's not that calm.

Usually there's a lot of incoherent yelling involved.

Then I change the channel and refuse to watch the show again. (I'm looking at you "House".)


As you can tell, this "use 10% of our brains" thing is a bit of a sore point for me.

Which is why I'm pleased to announce that the Mythbusters will be tackling this particular myth tomorrow.

*rubs hands with glee while doing happy dance*

My week has now been redeemed.

Yes, yes. I'm a very sad little muffin if Mythbusters can make it all better for me...

Comments

[beccastareyes]

I think I remember this myth coming up because our brain is good at compensating for damage -- nowhere near perfect, but enough that people like stroke victims can regain some function. Redundancy doesn't mean we don't use it when it's there, though -- it just means the brain can delegate when it's not.

[krait]

YES!

I hate that! I did not sit through innumerable Bio courses memorising the names, functions, and locations of the agmydala, limbic system, frontal lobes, cerebellum, occipital lobes, corpus callosum, white matter, grey matter, prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and all their fellows because they're funny-looking or as practice for learning muscle groups. I had to learn all that BECAUSE THEY DO IMPORTANT THINGS.

HAY GUESS WOT GUYZ: body parts do not evolve distinct and highly complex structures UNLESS THEY'RE NEEDED.

*eyerolling* The level of Biology!Fail just walking around out there (and making movies, books, TV shows...) is just astounding.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I know exactly what you mean - it's something that comes up a lot in SF etc. and it's a good sign that the author is talking total bollocks.

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

Thaaaaaaaank you. Sometimes I feel like the crazy person screaming in traffic when I get annoyed by this particular myth...

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Look at the people who use it - A E Van Vogt, I'm pretty sure L. Ron Hubbard - need I go on?

[herewiss13.livejournal.com]

Interesting...I wonder how exactly Adam and Jamie plan to test it. I hope explosives _aren't_ involved. :-P

[rileysaplank.livejournal.com]

I get the same when "experts" claim the human race was so much shorter in medieval times 'cos the doorways in castles are small. No you dolts, it was a defensive measure so that attackers would have to duck to get through them making it easier to chop their heads off.

[rin-x-x.livejournal.com]

Or smaller beds. *rolls eyes* It was a folklore idea that if you laid down you were inviting death because when you died, you were laid down completely flat, not sitting up.

Weeelllll...

[kor27.livejournal.com]

Just to throw a spanner in the works (Hmmm, I've read too much British fiction...).

We don't use all of our brains. At one time. I've never checked to see if it's "10%," per se, but that figure is close.

The problem, you see, is heat dissipation. Neuronal activity ends up generating a fair amount of heat. And if all parts of the brain functioned at the exact same time, well, they wouldn't all be functioning for long.

Have you seen a PET scan? With the bright areas showing which sections of the brain are active? What a PET scan actually measures is blood flow. We actually parse out blood to the areas that are presently functioning.

I've often wondered if this is where the SF "10%" thing originally came up. The problem, of course, is the assumption that we each constantly use a tiny corner of the brain, leaving the rest fallow. Of course not. We use the whole thing - over the course of, say, a minute, there's a good chance every part will be exercised.

The only way to use more at one time would be to add refrigeration units. Of course, there's the question of whether attempting to overclock something that's developed to use separate sections in quick succession would have any positive effect whatsoever...

Re: Weeelllll...

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

No, this is a much older idea - It used to be thought that a lot of the brain was spare capacity, unused in most people.

Re: Weeelllll...

[saranjeuhal.livejournal.com]

Tea Party Movement.

'Nuff said.

[(Anonymous)]

Why are you sad? Was there an unhappy ending to the tale of two birds?

[anelith.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a great myth for them to bust! Much better than last week's episode. I thought both segments of that episode were lame. And cruel! Especially to Grant and Kari.

[texanfan.livejournal.com]

Mythbusters makes all things better. :)

[lee-rowan.livejournal.com]

I get a little annoyed at the mythbuster boys sometimes -- they never seem to consider where the crap flies when they blow something up in a fragile desert ecosystem. Do they go around and pick up the pieces? I'm serious.

And I sure hope they don't blow up anybody's brain.

I think the 10% notion is a myth, but if we didn't have some backup capacity and redundancy, nobody would ever recover from a stroke. And I did take pre-med anatomy and physiology when I trained in massage therapy, though admittedly that was 20+ years ago. When van Vogt et al were writing, there were no CAT scans or MRI.

[wittgens.livejournal.com]

Hm, that 10% thing never bothered because I guess I just interpreted in a way that wasn't totally asinine. I figured it was meant to mean we only use 10% of our potential. Just like a race car going 10 mph is using the whole engine, in day to day life, we're using all of our brain. That doesn't mean we couldn't get a lot more power out, just like a race car could go way faster if the driver stepped on the gas.

Note, I'm not saying this is actually how the brain works. I just always found this way of thinking very acceptable given how pushing the body to superhuman heights is such a trope. The mind deserves love to.