One of the questions I am most frequently asked if whether it’s true that humans only use 10 percent of their brains.
If this applies to you—go lie down, because you are brain dead. The brain is wonderfully organized with different models of explanation that all apply because we are attempting to explain a holograph-like structure that some scientists say is more complex than all matter in the universe combined.
The brain has 100 million neurons per square inch with 500 trillion connections. Each brain cell is firing between 100 and 1,000 times per second. Activity never ceases.
The brain has an energy system that reveals differing levels of energy measured in brainwave activity. From slow wave- to fast wave-activity the brain has a mechanism that determines the level of activity needed for the particular activity.
For instance, if you are engaged in a simple task you do not need as much as energy than for a moderate level activity.
If you expend more brain energy than is needed for the task, your performance is negatively affected. A researcher at UCLA, decades ago, found in his study of fighter pilots, in a simulated exercise, that the most effective pilots had a spindling beta pattern during fighting missions. That is, their brains produced beta wave (fast wave) activity during the active fighting part of the exercise with breaks to lower-level brain wave activity when fighting let up. Their brains would take breaks when possible, whereas the pilots that were less-effective fighters would display constant beta wave activity. This lead to the conclusion that performance is most effective when it expends energy only as needed.
This has subsequently been demonstrated in sports; peak performance is accomplished through a peak alpha frequency (neutral level) during a golf shot, hitting a baseball, bowling, etc.
Staying with the efficiency model, the brain has been designed to over learn novel information so it can save energy. A brain that is learning new information uses a greater level of energy than a brain that has already learned the information. The brain seems obsessed with over learning so it can expend less energy. It loves to organize and tuck away information to pull up as needed.
One neuroscientist reported, from this perspective, it looks like the brain is lazy. The brain shows us how to work smart, not hard. The neuroscience field has also demonstrated how the brain tends to process novel information through the right hemisphere and transfer the information to the left hemisphere once it is over learned.
So the 10-percent question may not be as metaphorical as it appears – if one looks at the amazing organizing, over-learning mechanism.
I am sure that the amount of information the brain can learn and store is well beyond what most humans utilize. If only a brain image could show us how vacant our brains are in regard to its storage capacity.
The neuroscience study of brain plasticity has recently demonstrated how the brain is in constant flux with regard to strengthening of neural connections (good or bad).
For instance, the more you reinforce a thought pattern of worry, the stronger the biological connection becomes. The cells have branches extending from their bodies and connect with neighboring branches. The brain loses volume with age but that’s OK — it’s all about the connections.
Strong connections equate to efficiency. I refer to this as wisdom for the older person. Our aging brains have been pruned, but can outwit the younger yet-to-be-pruned person.
Also, within this model, one can see how the brain can be compared to a muscle. The more you work it out the stronger it becomes, and vice versa.
The brain was not devised to be idle; use it or lose it is true.
If you want a Claude Van Dam-looking brain you have to exercise it on a regular basis. Your mental gym should be equipped with ongoing novel interesting mental exercises, engagement in activities that require sustained attention and increasing the weight of your lexicon.
So it appears 100 percent of the brain is always working, but it loves to save energy, and at the same time needs to be worked out if one is going to utilize its potential.
I wish someone would reformulate the 10-percent question to its right place as a metaphor, but I must admit I do love biological metaphors.
