You know that you can achieve your dreams if you just put your mind to it. After all, you’re only using 10 percent of your brain, right? Imagine what you could do with that other 90 percent!
It’s time for a reality check. People have believed that we only use 10 percent of our brains for over one hundred years. Unfortunately, all that means is that people have been wrong for over one hundred years. As early as 1907, self-improvement gurus and motivational speakers were convincing their audiences that they could reach greater heights of achievement if only they could tap in to some of their unused, latent brain power. Some people even claim that Albert Einstein first said that most people only use 10 percent of their brains, or that he was a genius because he used more of his brain than the rest of us. Neither of these claims is true! There is no official record of Einstein saying such a thing.
The myth of the unused brain has been debunked in great detail by an expert in neuroscience, Dr. Barry Beyerstein. Many studies of patients with brain damage suggest that harm to almost any area of the brain has specific and lasting effects on a human being’s capabilities. If this myth was true, it would not be a big deal to hurt various parts of your brain. Most of the time, however, that’s not true at all. You will be affected by damaging almost any part of your brain.
Different types of brain imaging, including CT scans, MRI scans, and even more detailed techniques, show that no area of the brain is completely silent or inactive. Much more than 10 percent of the brain is busy at work virtually all the time. Furthermore, the many brain functions are localized to very specific areas of the brain. Each region has its own special job. When brain surgeons go in and probe the brain, area by area, they can’t just find the “nonfunctioning” 90 percent, because they see functions for almost every area. Moreover, when scientists observe the responses of individual brain cells or neurons (called “micro-level localization”) they do not find any gaps or inactive areas. Even studies of cell metabolism, which look at how the parts of the brain metabolize or process chemicals, reveal no dormant areas.
So, as depressing as this may be, you are probably stuck with what you’ve got. You are, in fact, using 100 percent of your brain. Of course, you can still question the old adage “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” since you can always keep learning new things. In fact, many studies show that keeping your brain stimulated might help to decrease dementia and brain impairment as you age.