What Is The 10 Percent Of The Brain Myth?

What Is The 10 Percent Of The Brain Myth?

The 10 percent of the brain myth is one of the most widely perpetuated urban legend that most or all humans only make use of 10 percent or less of their brains. It has been misattributed to many people, including Albert Einstein. In simpler terms it suggests that a person may harness this unused potential and increase intelligence.
The origins of myth is unclear. One possible origin is the reserve energy theories by Harvard psychologists William James and Boris Sidis in the 1890s who tested the theory in the accelerated raising of child prodigy William Sidis; thereafter, James told audiences that people only meet a fraction of their full mental potential, which is a plausible claim. Another popular theory has it that the journalist Lowell Thomas helped spread the myth in his preface to Dale Carnegie’s block-buster self-help book How to Win Friends and Influence People. Thomas misquoted William James as saying that the average person specifically “develops only 10 percent of his latent mental ability.” In fact James had referred more vaguely to our “latent mental energy.” Others have claimed that Einstein attributed his intellectual giftedness to being able to use more than 10 percent of his brain, but this is itself a myth.

So is this myth true?
There is certainly no truth to the idea that we only use 10 percent of our neural matter. Modern brain scans and advance studies show activity coursing through the entire organ, even when we’re resting. Minor brain damage can have devastating effects – not what you’d expect if we had 90 percent spare capacity.

A survey in 2012 of school teachers in Britain and The Netherlands found that 48 per cent and 46 per cent, respectively, believed the myth. Last year, a US survey by the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research found that 65 percent of people believed in the myth.

So why does the myth exist?
Many people believe that 10 percent myth sounds both feasible and appealing because they see it in terms of human potential. Many of us believe that we could achieve so much more – learning languages, musical instruments, and sporting skills – if only we applied ourselves.

In modern fiction, several books, films, and short stories have been written closely related to this myth. They include the novel The Dark Fields, its film adaptation Limitless (claiming 20 percent rather than the typical 10 percent), and the 2014 film Lucy, all of which operate under the notion that the rest of the brain could be accessed through use of a drug. Dc’s comic book super villain Deathstroke also is said to be able to utilize 90% of his brain, to explain his tactical genius and fighting skill. Further The 10 percent brain myth occurs frequently in advertisements, and in entertainment media it is often cited as if it were fact.