• Question: why do humans only use 10% of there brains?

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      Asked by to Kate, Kieren, Rowena, Roy on 20 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by .
      • Photo: Roy Adkin

        Roy Adkin answered on 20 Mar 2014:


        Humans use all of their brain all of the time…just in varying amounts and depending on what they are doing. You’d hardly use the part of the brain that controls walking as much if you’re sitting down drinking a cup of tea would you?
        It’s another popular misconception I’m afraid Richard.

      • Photo: Rowena Fletcher-Wood

        Rowena Fletcher-Wood answered on 20 Mar 2014:


        This is probably a myth… Neurologists believe we do actually use all our brains, they just can’t work out what for at present. There is so much left to discover about how the human brain works and a lot of disagreement about various things, like whether male and female brains are fundamentally different, or different because of the way they develop (brains are very flexible and change during our lifetime due to experience. I guess if neuroscience were really advance we could “read” someone’s story from their brain (and not 10% of it, all of it!) – imagine that!).

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