Human brain - Human brain (Mar/10/2009 )

It has been always said that humans do not use more than 8% of the brain. If it is so, then like appendix, the unused portion of brain should have been vestigial and disappeared slowly during evolution. Can anybody explain to contradiction?

well the 10% brain use is a myth. As adults, we do use all our brain, however not all of the brain is active at the same time. If you are not talking and sitting on chair, the motor centers and speech centers of your brain aren't rather active. And if you are multilingual...only one speech center is active at one time (unless you are mentally translating from one language to another)

So take an adult brain and lob a bit off and you will find that you are missing something. It maybe unimportant, like having memories of reading HG Well's Time machine, or something important like being able to speak a second language.

However the brain of young children does have an amazing level of plasticity being able to rewrite itself and make do with massive amounts of brain damage. This plasticity is due to the brain of babies and very young children having more neurons (nearly double) and more synapses compared to adults. All this extra would latter be prune back (removed) to produce more efficient neurocircuits.

It is this amazing level of plasticity of a young children's brain that causes the 10% brain usage myth to continue.

Does that mean that politicians are actually more highly evolved than the rest of us? If so, bring on extinction, I say!

swanny on Mar 10 2009, 05:56 PM said:

How was that conclusion made?

perneseblue on Mar 12 2009, 07:40 AM said:

Taking an adult brain and lopping off a bit... It was an attempt at a joke
Also following on from Mr D Adams, "... nothing turned a perfectly normal, healthy individual into a great political or military leader better than irreversible brain damage. " HHTTG, Fit the 11th, tx 24/1/1990.

swanny on Mar 11 2009, 03:07 PM said:

swanny on Mar 12 2009, 08:07 AM said:

May be this 10% is true for ability of our brain. Human brain has tremendous ability that only few has ever utilised fully I think.

BHARGAVI on Mar 10 2009, 01:49 AM said:

it is all a rumour... we use our complete brain.... only thing is that neurons that are made in the brain at time of 17 is same all the time... no reproduction... so it gets used up to 8% till our death..
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BHARGAVI on Mar 10 2009, 01:49 AM said:

I don't think so it is true that human use only 8% of its brain...then human being will also come under animal catigory..i don't agree with you..