What do you mean by saying that someone has used x PC of brain. -1- x PC of brain itself or -2- x PC of time in using in our whole lifetime since we do not keep on thinking our whole lifetime?

Answer 1

Scientists and others in the psychological, sociological fields have asserted that humans use maybe .01 to.10 percent of our brain. Without getting all science geek about it there is an easier way of understanding what that means.

First let us clarify, mechanically you use 100% of your brain. Maximizing usage is another subject. So when someone puts a percentage of use on the brain they do not mean that the other say 90% is dormant or useless.

Think of it this way. Let's say your brain is a stereo. When you are using your stereo you are using 100% of it. Here is the x factor. If the volume knob is set at say a 2 level then you are not getting the same usage when compared to turning the volume knob to 8 or 10.

So what scientists are trying to get across to us is we have a lot more room in our cranium to fill. We have more volume to boost. We are not even close to tapping our potential of brain power. The percentage is actually a moot point I would think in reality.

There is no physical data to determine in tangible evidence the amount of usage the human brain has. There are as many as if not more than 100 billion brain cells. Then there is the neuronal and synaptic connections. Interestingly there has been data that has determined that people have increased there brain power however.

Then there are the people who demonstrate mental abilities that are very rare. Some people with autism for example have had the ability to calculate very high levels of math equations without ever having learned how.

There is also more and more variables we are learning about the brain. Studies that suggest that even though our brain is one as a whole we evidently get production out of separate parts of the brain for different mental tasks. We have all heard of the right brain/left brain references for example.

So regardless of how you want to interpret the brain usage by percentage, the fact is it is the most amazing gift we have. A computer is nothing compared to the human brain. And we can build upon our ability to get more out of it. So turn up the volume button and get the old noggin' working.

The popular culture notion that we use only 10% of our brains probably arose from early sturctural studies that measured that the brain consisted of 10% neurons and 90% glial **cells and other "non-neuronal" parts.

Even today, the interlocking function of all parts of the brain are not well understood. Because of improvements in technology, and the opportunities, we have learned more about the nature of the human brain in the last 50 years, probabally than in the previous 5000 years. Structures within the brain, (the Corpus callosum* for instance) were once considered to be purely structural and have no part in cognitition. Today, however, we recognize that this structure is a huge pathway moving information between the left and right lobes of the brain.

We also used to say things like, "we only use 10% of our brain". The truth is, the rest of the brain is in use alright, but we don't always know how. An example: In extreme cases of injury, where Broca's area or Wirneke's area are damage, the result may be loss of language or speech. However, patients have "re-learned" speech, and done so in far less time than infants. We conclude from this that speech (and other information) is redundantly stored, and "learning" in this case is more like neural re-routing to a location that appears to be unused but may store this information.

In sleep states, there are flashes of what appear to be whole-brain activity, when PET scans and other means of thermal and EMR imaging show immense, unexplained activity as well.

In summary, it seems likely the entire, undamaged brain is all used.

We just aren't sure in each case exactly for what purpose. We are using almost 100% of our brains at all times. The idea that we only use 10% of our brains is utterly false.

That myth may have originated in the imaging studies of the brain that are commonly printed in magazines and news articles. In these studies (often of the PET or fMRI variety), subjects might be asked to fixate on an object while changes in regional brain blood flow are recorded. Changes in blood flow are assumed to reflect changes in brain activity; the more active the brain region, the more blood it receives per minute. The only problem is that all parts of the brain are constantly receiving blood. So to highlight the areas of the brain that are now receiving more blood flow, the researchers have to subtract away the normal baseline amount of blood flow going to each part of the brain. This sort of digital subtraction results in an image of the brain that shows only one part or segment "lighting up" with activity. But the truth is that all areas of the brain are active; just some parts of the brain become more active when the subject was asked to perform a particular task.

Many years ago studies of the brain showed that it was made up of 10% neurons and the remainder was glial cells, blood vessels, and other support structures. So you CAN ONLY USE 10% of your brain, because that is all there is to use.

*see the links

** see the glial link and Ramon y Cajal