Question

9_ Critically evaluate the following claim: “Most people use only 10 percent of their brain.” Demonstrate why this statement is false by describing at least ten areas of the brain used while taking this test.

Answer 1

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. Also, I have used cited information below because I needed facts to support the response.

(Answer) The myth that humans use only 5% or 10% of their brain throughout their lifetime has been busted a long time ago.

The scientific evidence suggests that:

• The brain mostly comprises of 3% of the body’s weight and uses 20% of the body’s energy.
• The average human brain weighs about three pounds.
• The brain comprises the cerebrum - which is the largest portion and performs all higher cognitive functions.
• The cerebellum - responsible for motor functions, such as the coordination of movement and balance
• The medulla oblongata, dedicated to involuntary functions like breathing.
• The majority of the energy consumed by the brain powers the rapid firing of millions of neurons communicating with each other.
• Scientists think it is such neuronal firing and connecting that gives rise to all of the brain's higher functions.
• The rest of its energy is used for controlling other activities—both unconscious activities, such as heart rate, and conscious ones, such as taking a test.

Even though all of the brain does not work all of the time, there are portions of the brain that are active 24/7.

"Evidence would show over a day you use 100 percent of the brain," says John Henley, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Even in sleep, areas such as the frontal cortex, which controls things like higher level thinking and self-awareness, or the somatosensory areas, which help people sense their surroundings, are active, Henley explains.”

(Source: Dr. John Henley in ‘The Scientific American’: author Robynne Boyd, Feb. 2008)