I dont know how much Einstein use but i heard about juz 9% of the brain.. hmm.. kinda tangle there.. dun u think?..

average people may b can use 3% - 6%.. y?

where did about 90% of our brain gone?

Is it because its burnout just like fuse?

maybe god forbidden us..

if user 100%... then will hang lar... we need a lot of free space for caching

same like computer perhaps?

y 90% free space? its kinda alot...

This post has been edited by cicakidop: Oct 10 2009, 11:08 AM

He gave us free will. He does not forbid anything.

3% - 6% for normal person... einstein use 9%... that figure might be for program that enable processing of data to stimulate our knowledge...
don't know how many we use for storage purpose... immediate retrieval and also old memory that require us to take some time to remember... hidden memory that need certain event for us to remember and bla bla bla....

if that 3% - 9% meant for conscious mind... how many do we use for unconscious mind that control our fear, body processes and bla bla bla...

if i'm not mistaken.... it was told that eventhough einstein is a geneius... he have trouble to remember address and having poor sense of direction... maybe... as u use more of your brain... some of the basic function will become unstable or perhaps will be uninstalled

This post has been edited by myxzspzlx: Oct 10 2009, 11:39 AM

I don't know where is the theory we only use 3-6% of out brain, how to quantify it? Can enlight on this issue.

We human still not fully understand how brain work actually. We knew some part responsible for some function, but we don't understand fully the actual mechanism.

There are a lot of sub-conscious like breathing, heart beat blood flow, which seem 'auto' function which still need brain power for processing.

Try to use your processor be in i7 or Phenom II, at 90-100% see how sluggish your computer will be.

This post has been edited by cherroy: Oct 10 2009, 11:39 AM

ya lor... how they calculate... i first heard about this long time ago when i'm still a little boy...

before this got comics from hong kong that use this theory where the more u explore your brain... the stronger u will be (the english translation call it mega dragon & tiger and malay translation call it dewata raya... the original chinese title dun no liao)

---

Added on October 10, 2009, 12:14 pmdon't u think the free will was given so that God can use it to confirm that those who follow orders really because of their faith and not because they were unable to do otherwise???

This post has been edited by myxzspzlx: Oct 10 2009, 12:29 PM

Seems like the <10% of brain being used was a myth.
If we use only 10% of it, is it ok then to remove the 90% since it's not being used?
If so, one would then question 'How do we know which part to remove?'

Exactly, if we do not know which part to remove, how did we came to the conclusion that only 10% is being used?

mind I share bit on science side of buddhism?? I think now the west are researching how buddhsit monks can control their mind.. like what I watch on discovery science yday night... they put hundreds of sensor on the monks head and ask the monks to meditate.. interestingly, only small parts of the monk`s brain are detected to have activity...

once a monk said... our brain is like ocean.. what we use daily is only the surface... we have use till the bottom of the ocean....

I think this is why...

throughout history, the mind are conditioned to think with several kind of "programme"

religion is a programme where you think and act from the processor logoc of god...

and LOGIC and COMMON SENSE is a programme by itself... where by you think that A =B and A+A=2A...

Maybe we haven't come across something that needs to fully use our brain.

We can't just use the strength of lifting 50kg dumbbell to lift a tissue paper, can we ? Not heavy enough to force your muscle to put your strength into use.

My lecturer said that theory (man only uses 10% of his brain) is obsolete. Just like the tongue-map theory, you know, the one that says this part of the tongue detect sweetness, this one sourness etc.

I dont know what the latest brain stat is. 20%? 80%? In the past, it was thought that you can remove certain part of someone's brain and that person can still live. Recent study says every part of human brain has their own task, thus removing ANY parts of the brain will reduce a portion of human ability or skills.

For example; the prefrontal lobotomy. In ancient times human believe that there are something inside the skull that is responsible for evil and illness. So they crack open a little hole in the patient's head to "cleanse the evil." In 1940's the procedure was practiced in US, especially by a certain Walter Freeman who believe he can "calm" schizophrenic patients by lobotomizing them. It did calm some individuals, but often the result was often disappointing.

Human biology is only beginning to make its mark in the world. What you learn now could be obsolete by next year. Maybe tomorrow they'll announce "We found out that XXX was responsible for dreams and imagination. Therefore when waking, you use Y% of your brain, but when you're (day) dreaming, it's Z%."

If you remove the stats, I'd say we are unable to be able to use certain part of the brain because;

- brain degenerates as we grow older. Prove: there's a certain frequency of sound that only people below 20 years old can hear. This is because the part in the brain that corresponds to the said frequency degenerates as one age.

- we don't utilize enough brain muscle to use certain part yet. If you go to gym and lift weight everyday you'll gain weight and muscle. If you think/perform certain task frequent enough the neurons will establish lots of strong connections in the brain aka using more part of the brain.

Maybe we DOES use all of the brain function, just not all at once. When your dreaming your motor sensory are at rest. When you're thinking numbers your imagination might be in stand by.

Time to install widgets to monitor brain processing power usage.

90% left free coz if we have brains more than that, we'd end up in tanjung rambutan. LOL

Good analogy there, I get exactly what you mean (Although there will be people insisting lifting weights is not the same as using brain. ).

Have any of you experienced this?

Sometimes during exam, when the questions are like very difficult, when I had to think really hard and recall everything I've learnt, after the exam I felt as though my brain has been fried. I'm saying not only headache, but I felt as though my head was heating up.

I can't exert my experience unto you guys. You might beg to differ and it's fine by me. But occasions like this is what made me felt perhaps it is true that we can't optimise our brain all the time. If the usage exceeds the rating (), the brain might just be fried.

If we use too much of our brain, we may end up very tired

Are all brains created equal?
Can our brains be trained to be equal?

Eg.
Whats the difference between a smart person and a not so smart person. Can the not so smart person be as smart as the smart person with proper training?

some say u have to meditate hard enough to understand whats in your 'mind'...

The main difference between a smart person and a not-so-smart student is just whether or not they use their brains before saying or doing anything.

inaccurate. neurons cannot regrow or be replaced therefore what u have is what u have.

frequent repetition of tasks aka practice is the method for your brain to familiarise itself to tasks that are important. as our brain is limited, we also live within the rule of 'use it or lose it'.

some posts in this thread are ridiculous.

And that is why i asked....are all brains created equal and can they be trained to function equally if they are not.

Sorry I can't provide an absolute answer to your question, but I can only give you my opinion.

As someone has mentioned, neurons are unlike muscle cells that can regrow and replace itself.
But, will inactive neurons die off? That I'm not sure. (It'd be helpful if someone can provide some proof to this)

However, I know for a fact that if one sharpens his/her mind, the brain can be used more efficiently.
Practice makes perfect perhaps?

----

This post has been edited by marsalee: Nov 10 2010, 05:10 PM

NEVER....

as baby maybe yes... during grow up period, the neurons in our brain are build up according to our environment.. what we engage daily.. and what we engage daily are different everyday...

some result from gene from parents plus experience of present moment.. that`s what an indivivual..

The part you mentioned about inactive neurons dying off is often referred to as "Use it or lose it".

This is why it's very very very very very important that you keep playing with your baby when he/she is born and keep introducing them to more and more challenging games and activities.

This is also why you must introduce your children to mathematics, language and music at a very early age because it helps the brain make all the important connections while it still can.

This is also why it's important to feed small children foods rich in Omega-3 oils (EPA and DHA) because these acids are important for developing neurons and the sad part is that our bodies can't generate it on its own.

And finally this is also why you must continue to challenge yourself with mathematics, sudoku and puzzles as you get older because it helps your brain maintain your neurons.

Further reading/references:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/...80207091859.htm
http://www.heall.com/healingnews/aug/brain_and_aging.html
http://www.newhorizons.org/neuro/diamond_use.htm
BBC Documentary: How to Improve Your Memory

Edit:
To answer TS's question, there's no real measure on how much of the brain we're using. The Einstein using 9% story is little more than an old wives tale, same as the story about Einstein proving his professor wrong about god... never happened.

The brain is not like a computer. The brain is like the internet. When you learn something new, your brain makes a new connection between a few neurons. As long as you keep using that new knowledge, that connection will remain and will become harder to break. But if you stop using that part, your brain will break that connection and the result is that you will forget.

So you want to use more of your brain? Do more varied things and keep on doing it every day forever.

This post has been edited by DeniseLau: Oct 12 2009, 11:03 PM

I think this is also one of the possible reason. Maybe when your brain usage passes certain limit, you will start to feel dizzy, headache, pass out or even die as long as you could force yourself to break that limit which is kinda impossible in my opinion. When you try to push your brain over a certain limit, your brain starts to warn you with the symptoms mentioned, making you weak and unable to continue.

It's like trying to choke oneself to death, you would pass out and breath reflexively before you are even dead.

I remembered reading an article that a Korean guy passed away after playing a computer game (It's Starcraft, I think) non-stop for >48 hours.

Everyone is not equal in the first place.

That's why no one alike with each others. Although some are influenced by latter stage development, some basic/factors are inheritance already.
Some are born to be taller, some are born to be shorter, some are born to be more talkative, some are born to be more artistic etc.

im just talking about the brain, bro. not personality and physical attributes.

Likewise, how the neurons are created aren't equal for everyone. For some unlucky ones, the neurons didn't develop, and hence became mentally challenged.

3-6% for thinking... other for background process... if wanna knoe, ctrl + alt + del, click at process tab.. u'll see wahts background process u r doing

thats just a myth..

The thing about this is, how did the idea of 3-6% of the brain being used, comes about?
For one, we can't determine which part of the brain will be functioning for what specific purpose.
I do remember there was a chart showing which part of the brain controls which function of the body, but I wasn't aware if there was any scientific backings to that.

I could be wrong, I'm open to ideas and further discussions.

The percentage rating of brain usage to me is a total nonsense. Those researchers who came up with that claims didn't really know what was going on also. If you do read up more about how the brain function, the brain is like a System Unit (a whole computer).

And inside a computer you have different parts like GPU, CPU, sound cards and stuff. Our brain has specific regions just for that specific job. Some people who suffer from certain brain disease, neurologist sometimes temporary disables certain part of the brain to identify the problem.

You can't rate the brain like say "oh, my brain only running at 6%". Cuz your brain is not just one big part itself, its multiple parts joined and working together; a component. So if some random guy comes saying, "my brain is running at 100%!". So he's saying that the speech control part is working non-stop, aka he won't stop talking. Imagine every part working at maximum, fear control and all those- the person will go kookoo. Feel scared, brave, funny, and everything at the same time.

And the thing about being smart, to me everyone is smart. But the question is, smart in which situation?
Some of us might be PC pros, but if we were sent for guerilla warfares, how good are we? The only time when one is not smart, maybe brain disablilities...

This post has been edited by kingster113: Oct 15 2009, 12:55 AM

Correct, exactly as what we've been discussing so far.

Perhaps the percentages quoted has already included everything u mentioned above, leaving roughly 90% + more of our brain yet to be explored.

XD Aha! How do we know that?
But it'd be wonderful if we can device a method to point out which section of the brain does what.

there are somethings in life, we just couldnt find answers for

why pigeons are able to find their way home, despite thousands of miles apart?

why the earth circles the sun in perfect timing/order, never missing its proper cycle?

why we are different from any other animals, despite all having brains?

or the ever question - why are we here?

We human are curious creatures. We'd seek answers to all questions.

For questions that we can't answer, there's religion.

wat...?? why...??? u wanna control ur heartbeat by urself...??? wanna control ur blood circulation by urself....??? wanna control ur digestion, immune system by urself....???

damn...if u can, then ure very, very, very, genius...

You sounded very paranoid. Contribute towards the discussion instead, please.

We dont

I'm just trying to look at things in a slightly different and more optimistic view over something i know nothing about

But it would be interesting if perhaps we can use our conscious minds in more ways than just thinking.

Correction. Muscle cell can't grow and replace itself.. When you have a tear or an injury on a skeletal muscle, fibrous tissue will grow in it's place, thus replacing the muscle tissue in it's place. Thus you'll never gain 100 percent of it's function back...

And why would skeletal muscle seems to grow larger when we go to gym or workout? They undergo hyertrophy which is an increse in cell size, not hyperplasia which is an increase in number of cells...

I see. Thanks for clearing it up. I do admit this isn't my field of study, was just recalling some biology knowledge in SPM.

Did other animal fully utilized their brain?N any of it using more than 30% of their brain function?

I think the statement that we only use about 10% of our brain is subjected to debate. I suspect, this figures will be underestimated due to how we define brain usage. Please view the following website to study.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article....ercent-of-brain

This post has been edited by Hiew Litt Pang: Oct 30 2009, 09:16 AM

you know, some buddhist monks and yoga grand master can do that..... they train their mind in the way that they can control heart beat etc....

---

Added on October 30, 2009, 9:20 ami think that animals do not have the notion conscious of self in its mind....

like new born baby,..... when it is born, the baby is alive.. but the concept I AM still not yet exist... can you remember when you are small
? eg 1 years old?? mostly is 2++


This post has been edited by Awakened_Angel: Oct 30 2009, 09:20 AM

----

This post has been edited by marsalee: Nov 10 2010, 05:11 PM

the given statistic was created out of marketing gimmickry and further evolved into a miscontrued factoid.

nonetheless, we do utilize the full function our brain's capability. just that we are unable to conciously pinpoint what were the inputs and the outputs. if youre not aware of it does not mean it was not our brains functioning.

So, how do we utilize our brain usage? Pls dun tell me Buzan's mind-mapping.

IF a human can really gain access to all of his unconsious part of brain....he can really be called as God....

Y?
If he wounded(scratches/bullet hole)he can control the cell to regenerated faster,n by tat heal up faster.
If he is sick(lets say cancer)he can oso heal it up.
But he will die if his block get knocked off...

Having a 100% utilised brain doesn't mean the rest of the limbs/organs/body systems controlled by it will be "optimized" also.

Imagine the fastest/most perfect computer connected to an aeroplane. The capability of the aeroplace will still be limited to its physical built, so that computer won't be able to fly it to Mars and back (although it got all the route/calculations correct)

i studied neuroscience.

from what i can say, we can't literally use ALL our brain functions because of the limitations like gender, hormones, gifts, environment etc. boys tend to use a certain part of the brain at large, while the other part is not often used. people who has gifts in language and writing, they use the left side of the brain, with lesser holistic thoughts.

Darlin' I beg to differ. I write well and people say I am rather on the more creative side. I fail math 101 though, so call it what you will.

Some implications on the thoughts of boys eh? Sex sex sex food sex food food sex

Yeah...that's what I thought as well. I guess we are aliens. I think probably it's not always either you are left or right. It could be a combination.

All humans think using a combination of left and right brain. But which specific sites on the left/ right brain do we use? It differs that way honeys. Me too, I write well and on the creative side, but then calculus is something I hate to repeat on my freshie year lol xD

I cling well to the theory that human can't use all of our brain's POTENTIAL. "function" isn't a correct word, it might be misleading literally, like what we can see when we scroll along the thread lol. Human can't do that because of the gender, environment, race (yes, race ） and blood factor. That is what made human unique if compared to one another. The diff way of using our brains can be an invisible fingerprint too

Looks like God forgot to add in "Good with Mathematics" when he made me

I like the thought of environment though, considering how a good upbringing will in most cases make you a better person. Gotta start surrounding the kids with classical music and good literature from young.

how??

I just come across this terminology

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clairaudience...on_clairvoyance

Clairvoyance is rubbish. It is considered as pseudoscience. We can't credit clairvoyance just because we found some experiments that seem to show there is something wierd with the results. It can be attributed to many different things such as self deception. The brain is a complex biological machine and we are still learning about it to this day.

This is how I look at it. We can't say look at the data and say clairvoyance explains it. It's akin to how people use god to explain things they do not understand.

Maybe HE forbid us to fly by ourselves.

Btw there is no valid evidence that we use our brain 3-6% only.
How they proved still phailed tremendously.

Religion is a way to control mens actions. People who really practise the virtues of their religion have good morale. And tell me, what religion asked us to stop exploring our abilities? Sheesh.

The body is not a creation of God. This statement actually varies according to different theologies. Not concrete.

In conclusion, batuapi's argument is really lame. You'd trigger all those religious people who does their homework, mate. Very arguable, and you clearly never read anything on comparative religion before making this sensational statement.

The whole belief that 'we only use less than 10% of our brains olol if we use all we'll be genii' is a fallacy.

Does that mean that destroying the other 90% that isn't being used will have no consequences on our brain functions? Of course not. The entire brain is being used, just not all of it at the same time when doing a specific task.

Brain imaging research, often taken to be the proof of this non-scientific myth, clearly shows that they are no areas of the brains that are 'black holes', so to speak - ie. areas that never light up in response to some task. All the neurons that comprise the cortex are active to some degree all the time, even during sleep.

i still dont understand why ppl like 2 relate religion in any scientific question of so

if you can use ur brain power to the full
then u will feel others r just like brainless
haha

That is a retarded statement, what makes you think that?


...

This post has been edited by ZeratoS: Dec 6 2009, 09:14 AM

He's retarded and you still asked him to think? That's insensitive! (sarcasm) I kid, don't cry.


Along similar lines to what linkinwayne stated, different parts of our brain performs different functions. If you mean we don't use our entire brain for rational thoughts, then that's true. And it is because we need it for other functions, such as breathing, emotions and motor functions.

That said, our understanding of the human brain is still extremely limited. It is only in recent times that research into the human brain has seen a spike. Hopefully more of our questions can be answered in the years to come.