The 10% myth
Do you remember two relatively recent movies? One was called Limitless, starring Bradley Cooper and the other was called Lucy, starring Scarlett Johansson. The link between them is that the premise of each movie was that we don’t use the full capacity of our brain. In fact the poster for Lucy said ‘The average person uses 10% of their brain capacity.’ If only we could find a way to tap into the other 90%, then we would have massively improved brain power and psychic abilities! So, what’s the truth?
This myth is prevalent and resilient. It seems that it may have arisen through the American psychologist William James in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and an misattributed claim by Einstein. Either way, many people, even in education, believe this myth. A relatively recent poll of educators showed that 46% believed it, a slightly worrying statistic.
Why is it false? Firstly, with the advent of PET and fMRI scanners, we can see brain activity in detail. There is neural activity across the whole brain even when we are sleeping. The brain has been thoroughly mapped and uses have been found for all the regions. It is made of different areas with different functions which all work together. There is no known part of the brain that doesn’t have a specific function. The neuroscientist, Barry Beyerstein has concluded, ’In the millions of studies of the brain, no one has ever found an unused portion.’’
Secondly, the brain has evolved through natural selection. It accounts for 2% of our weight yet requires 20% of our energy. In fact, in younger children that figure can rise to 50%. Brain tissue is ‘expensive’ to grow and operate. It is highly implausible that evolution would have allowed the squandering of resources on a scale necessary to build and maintain such a massively under-utilised organ.
Thirdly, the effect of brain damage would be much less if we only used 10% of our brains. There is almost no part of the brain that can suffer damage without at least some loss of function. In fact relatively small amounts of damage to relatively small areas of the brain can have devastating consequences. The brain can and does sometimes compensate for the loss of function due to the plasticity of the brain, but this is the exception rather than the rule. So, if we damaged some of the 90% unused then there should be no impairment. However, there is.
So what are the implications? The 10% myth has surely motivated people to strive for greater creativity and productivity in their lives, which certainly is not a bad thing. However, it has done little to discourage the millions who comfort themselves with the fact that they have not yet tapped into that vast unused cerebral reservoir. In fact to gain that amazing promotion, to score that fantastic IB/Bac grade or to write that best selling novel is all down to that most archaic of virtues, hard work!
