10% Brain Usage: is it True?

Humans only use 10% of their brain, so they say.

Photo from David Goehring’s flickr

The 10% brain usage is definitely a myth for the scientific community. Every region of the brain is performing, whether it is from the back’s occipital lobe that controls our vision or the frontal lobe that’s responsible for our cognitive functioning. Every region of the brain is almost working constantly to accommodate our activities; even those that we don’t have to think of doing, like breathing, are under the brain’s supervision.

100% of our brain is working hard; that’s why it demands so much energy to operate. Our brain “represents three percent of the body’s weight and uses 20 percent of the body’s energy”, said Johns Hopkins’ neurologist Barry Gordon.

Where the myth came from?

It may have started from William James’ words in The Energies of Men (1908), “we are making use of only a small part of our possible mental and physical resources”. Later on, Karl Lashley studied the brains of rats where he removed portions of cerebral cortex and the rats can perform specific tasks like nothing happened. So people would be thinking, we won’t need most of it.

The more interesting claim is human’s potential psychic abilities. It is indulging to believe that there’s even more we could do, perhaps have a super memory or heroic capabilities.

The more appropriate claim is we only know 10% of our brain. That 10% are neurons, and the rest of the brain is supporting glial cells. There is still a broad spread of exploration to know what glial cells are for.

But the science community is not backing off to know more. In a way, you could buy Einstein’s brain via an iPad app. $9.99 gives anyone access to images of the genius’ brain cut into 350 slides, hoping to spark another knowledge to his brain apart from knowing that his parietal lobe (processing of mathematics, language, and spatial understanding) is wider than normal.

Is this too much to take from the man who already contributed so much to our comprehension? The man who wished for his body to be cremated?

As long as the person is dead, it seems, his voice will not matter. Jacopo Annese of the University of California “predicts that there will be another Einstein, and when that individual dies, we’ll be prepared (we’re hanging on for that 3D-mapped interactive specimen)” (Wired UK).

Do you believe that nothing should hamper the search for knowledge?

Sources:
Do People Only Use 10 Percent Of Their Brains?; Scientific American
Do We Use Only 10% of Our Brains?; Washington.edu
Einstein’s Brain Goes Digital With iPad App; Wired UK

Behold: Hands of Men and Women

Men are likely to have the uppermost hand than women when holding hands; but who has the dirtier hand?

Photo from photoXpress

Researcher Mark S. Chapell and his pals took the burden to observe 15,008 couples with holding hand activities. It’s true, men has the uppermost hand. And it may be that men initiate the act of touch.

Touch has a power. In the study of Coan, Schaefer and Davidson,  a woman was given mild electric shocks to observe her experience of pain and fear through MRI. At first, pain and fear was prominent. When a laboratory team member held her hand, the pain is still evident but fear diminishes. When the woman’s partner held her hand, the MRI shows that her brain calmed down remarkably.

Holding a woman’s hand is simple, seemingly vain, but it’s an easy way to make her at ease amidst pain and stress. Plus, it’s a romantic gesture too.

A man to man holding hand would raise brows in many societies; but in Afghanistan, it is expected. It shows affection for the men without the sexual association. And in times that you didn’t do that, it shows aversion as if you’re spacing yourself away from the other man.

Holding hands is dirtier than you thought. Tennessee senators passed a new bill claiming that holding hands and kissing are gateways to intercourse. The bill, which blocks sex education, aims to reduce the tipping numbers of the young engaging the activity – 27% of middle school students in Memphis City have had sex.

People from University of Colorado studied hands of men and women, and women’s hands are dirtier! Women “have a much ‘greater diversity’ of bacteria on their hands than men, and a higher number of innate bacteria living under the skin that can’t be washed away” (Noble, 2008). Interesting.. How did that happen?

What do you feel when you hold hands?

Sources:
Lending a Hand; Psychological Science
Why Arab Men Hold Hands; The New York Times
Men and Women Holding Hands; Ammons Scientific
Holding Hands Is Dirtier Than You Thought; YourTango 

How to Leverage Your Creativity

“Be quiet! I’m trying to think.”
by Jeff Whitaker of Giving Voice to Vision

Photo from Photoxpress

Those of us who spend a lot of time in the business of creativity know the feeling. You need to come up with something. But you’re just not ‘feeling it’. Good news. I may be able to help you spark a creative idea or two.

We’ve all been told at one time or another, “Be quiet! I’m trying to think.” Well, it could be that may not be the best admonishment to get the creative juices flowing. A study published in the Journal of Consumer Research finds that when you compare next to no noise (or silence) to moderate levels of ambient noise, turns out moderate noise wins out as a better environment in which to create.

Apparently it works this way. Moderate background noise (70 decibels) creates enough of a distraction to push people to think more creatively where as complete silent can have the opposite effect. The researchers say a relatively noisy environment like a cafe or coffee shop may actually trigger the brain to think abstractly and in turn generate creative ideas. (I’m sure the caffeine doesn’t hurt.)

The study also cautions that excessive noise like a jackhammer isn’t the answer either. Too much noise really does make it hard to think. Guess its true that as with many other aspects of life, moderation is the key, literally.

So, the next time your project calls for a jolt of creativity, excuse yourself and head to the nearest coffee house. Who knows what you’ll come up with.

What are some of your best ideas for sparking creativity and do you agree or disagree with the findings of this study?

I am the Pastor of Programming and Media at Shore Fellowship Church, one of the largest churches in Southern New Jersey and one of the fastest growing churches in the nation.