soc excred4
More or Less-Behind the Stats
Do we really use only 10% of our brain capacity? Many individuals have embraced this statistic as being factual. Popular culture has also embraced this myth, as we often see this concept portrayed in media. In the BBC podcast, Professor Sofie Scott addresses this common statistic. Is this figure true, or false? And where did the source material actually come from? It turns out that the statistic is based on a self- help book from the early 1900s. William James, one of the most influential thinkers in modern psychology, stated that humans have free mental potential. James himself never actually stated that humans use only 10% of our brains, and for a good reason: it’s not true. Even as certain minor functions use only a small part of the brain, brain imaging scans have shown that the vast majority of the brain does not remain idle. Any sufficiently complex set of activities or thought patterns will indeed use many parts of the brain. The idea that we use only ten percent of brain is factually incorrect. Over the course of time, just about all of the brain is used at one time or another.
Do we really use only 10% of our brain capacity? Many individuals have embraced this statistic as being factual. Popular culture has also embraced this myth, as we often see this concept portrayed in media. In the BBC podcast, Professor Sofie Scott addresses this common statistic. Is this figure true, or false? And where did the source material actually come from? It turns out that the statistic is based on a self- help book from the early 1900s. William James, one of the most influential thinkers in modern psychology, stated that humans have free mental potential. James himself never actually stated that humans use only 10% of our brains, and for a good reason: it’s not true. Even as certain minor functions use only a small part of the brain, brain imaging scans have shown that the vast majority of the brain does not remain idle. Any sufficiently complex set of activities or thought patterns will indeed use many parts of the brain. The idea that we use only ten percent of brain is factually incorrect. Over the course of time, just about all of the brain is used at one time or another.