Our brain: Do we use only a small portion of it?
by Carl Wieland
There is a very wide-spread belief that we humans only ever use 10 to 20% of our
brain. Attributed to Albert Einstein, it is one of the ‘grab’ statements
used to recruit people for the cult of ‘Scientology.’ It is also a favourite
of new-agey ‘positive thinking’ gurus.
The reason for its wide acceptance may be because Dale Carnegie’s popular
1936 book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, stated that most people
only use 15% of their brains—a ‘fact’ probably pulled from thin
air.1
There have been many recent advances in brain research techniques, including sophisticated
scanners. However, we still don’t know much about how the brain works overall.
We know next to nothing about how it processes information.
We know certain activities originate in the cerebral cortex,2 and that
certain memories are stored there. But we don’t know where and how they are
stored, nor how we can recall memories, or come up with new ideas, for example.
The little we do know has come about largely from studying people whose brains have
been damaged through accidents, strokes or tumours.
So this oft-repeated belief is just plain wrong. If it were true, things which damage
the brain would not have such drastic consequences for our ability to think, speak,
and remember.3 If you compare it to a computer, the ‘hardware’
is all there, ready to process complex or relatively simple software tasks, which
can vary from time to time. No computer uses all of its processing circuitry at
once—in our brain, that would be like a major epileptic seizure.
When researchers in the 1960s began to map out certain areas for certain functions,
others remained unknown, which may have reinforced the myth.
But in the 1920s, experiments on mice had already shown that any removal
of brain tissue caused a loss of performance. Mice were taught simple tasks (like
navigating a maze), then a portion of their brain cortex was removed. The results
indicated ‘that memories were stored throughout the cortex and not in one
particular place: the more of the cortex was removed the worse the rats’ performance
became.’
So, did Albert Einstein believe the myth? In fact, he may have ‘used it as
a wry answer when asked by a journalist why he was smarter than other people.’1
Many people with a blockage in the flow of brain fluid (hydrocephalus), in whom
the developing brain was slowly compressed to a thin sheet, have been shown to have
normal or superior intelligence. One such person obtained a first-class degree in
mathematics, although his brain was thinned out from its normal 45 mm (1¾")
thickness to one mm on average!4 Far from showing that the rest was unused,
this indicates that the developing brain has a tremendous ability to compensate
for such a slowly encroaching neurological problem.
Our brains have actually been designed with an amazing compensatory capacity. After
a stroke, some of the lost function can be taken up by other, undamaged portions.
Also, the region of the brain to do with hand control enlarges as people learn to
play, say, the guitar. In people who go blind, the sense of touch is greatly enhanced
to compensate.
Why should chance mutation, coupled with natural selection, favour the development
of exquisite touch in blind individuals? Most blindness occurs way past the reproductive
years, so from a Darwinian point of view, such ‘compassionate’ design
features, useful only in case of major disaster, are hard to explain. They make
sense in a body designed by an intelligent Creator to cope in a fallen world.5
Our brain is by far the most complex thing in the universe.
Next time you hear someone quote that urban myth about ‘only using 10% (or
20%) of our brain’, ask them—how do they know? How was this calibrated
or measured? It hasn’t been, of course. It might be a useful way to get them
thinking critically about other things (like evolution) which they have likewise
absorbed as ‘truth.’
Related articles
References and notes
- Brain drain, New Scientist 160(2165/6/7):85–86,
19–26 December 1998 thru 2 January 1999.
- The outer, furrowed surface which everyone recognizes as ‘the brain.’
- Werner Gitt and Rolf Höneiser ‘Gehirnforschung:
Nur 10 Prozent aktiv genutzt?’ Factum, p. 24, 12 December 1998.
- Ref. 1, p. 86.
- God foreknew the Fall, of course.
Isaiah 46:10,
Rev. 13:8.
|
