The human brain is complex. It is able to compose music, create events, solve equations in an “elegant” fashion. It is the wellspring of feelings, experiences and a “deposit” of memories. So, not surprisingly, the brain remains a mystery …
The 10% Myth
Although it is a tempting concept, “the 10 percent myth” is so wrong, that it brings laughter, says neurologist Barry Gordon at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. While no one knows who invented this myth, it is associated with the American psychologists and with William James, the same one who argued in The Energy of Men that “we only use a small part of our mental and physical resources”. It was also associated with Einstein, who used this concept to explain “the cosmic intellect.”
The credibility of this myth, says Gordon, is due to people’s conception about their brain, their own shortcomings makes them accept the existence of unused parts of the gray substance. This concept is false. Using only 10% of our brain can only be true when, at some point in life, like when we think or stay still.
Gordon says that we practically use every part of the brain and most of it is always active. The brain represents approximately 3% of body weight and uses 20% of its energy. The whole nervous system weighs about 1.5 kg. Much of the energy is consumed to create neural connections. The remaining energy is used to coordinate other activities such as the pulse or driving the car.
It is true that at some point not all brain regions are active, unlike skeletal muscle, which seem to be always active. However, even when sleeping, areas such as the frontal cortex and somatosensory areas are active.
Even during routine activities, “a storm of flashes” occurs in nearly the entire brain for a few seconds. “That does not mean that if we are not able to do a routine activity our brain is sick. There are people who have suffered accidents or have been removed part of the brain and can lead completely normal lives, and that happens because the brain has a way to compensate and to ensure that what remains can perform all activities.”
Being able to make a map of all neural regions and their functions is necessary to understand these things. Experts know that neurons that perform similar activities are “gathered” in the same regions. For example, neurons that control movement of the thumb are placed next to the ones corresponding to the index finger. However, in surgery, doctors avoid neural networks corresponding to sight, hearing or movement, trying to allow the perform as many of its functions as possible.
What cannot be understood is how networks of neurons in different brain regions cooperate to form the “consciousness.” Moreover, there is no evidence that there is an appropriate place in the brain corresponding to the consciousness, which makes researchers believe that it is indeed a collective effort of the neurons.
Another mystery hidden in the convolutions of the cortex is that of all nerve cells, 10% are neurons and 90% are glial cells, practically no use just 10% of the brain; in fact, we don’t use only 10% of our brain, on the contrary, we can only understand how 10% of it works.
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