Ten Percent of Your Brain - PsyFile

[@Ruby_V_]

this 10% at any give time is mildly accurate, its hardly an sort of precise number, but as an idea, it is true. the reason we only use this 10% is that it would take too much energy to use all of it at once for long periods of time. I am very surprised no one talked about this!

Brady! You're using just 10% of this channel capabilities! :)

[@BlackBobby69]

Glad to see you back at your roots, Brady. I very much enjoyed the older Sixty Symbols episodes and this certainly feels like one. In this day and age, where we are presented with huge amounts of readily available data, yet we know nothing about its validity (read: who to trust), I've found your concept of actually showing multiple experts and their opinions on a topic to be quite ingenious. That way you can *see* that the field agrees and it's not just some random nutjob. More of this please!

[@BrentVis]

Brady, I love this channel. I want to become a neuroscientist after finishing my school and university, and these videos are a great way to get more orientated in the subject.

[@DynamixWarePro]

Defiantly need more videos on this channel! I remember the Mythbusters tested and disproved this 10% myth, but I never thought about brain damage and why only a small amount of it can affect us.

[@TheNeverposts]

when I saw this video hanging out on my home page,with that picture of a sliced lobe, I was about to come here and lose my cool. but man, am I glad someone made a video educating people of this kind of thing! I hope no one ever asks me that ever again in my entire life

[@nblax41]

The way I always heard and understood this is what was pointed out at the very end of the video, that we only use 10% of the potential of our brain, just like we can't use our body's full physical abilities at any given time outside of extreme life or death situations.

[@R0XxD]

This is so good Brady! Pls pls make more videos on psychology! I'm so glad that there is someone like u out there making videos open so that we ALL feel like Nottingham students! The chemistry ones are so far the best science channel on youtube for me haha, bt pls do more on psychology too! ;)

[@FrozenAmy]

May I ask you Brady, how do you get all those awesome professors to sit and talk with you? they're such wonderful people for doing this!!

[@SentinelRez]

My co-workers and I were discussing this and they stated it was really 10% and I challenged them how was this possible. Later on I temporarily joined their side because I was not able provide the evidence for what was the rest of the brain being used, so thank you. I am going to bring up this discussion again!

[@fhydan]

Brady. You are the best invention since KZbin.

[@krazyking424]

I heard that a possible origin of this idea is that glial cells outnumber neurons by about 10:1 so roughly only 10% of the brain is neurons, and as our understanding of the functionality of glia has been slow moving, some early on may have thought they were not being used at all.

[@AngelSmrti88]

I didn't know you had a channel that deals with the science of the mind Brady. I would've subscribed sooner. You should definitely inform the people on the rest of your channels i'm sure they would like to subscribe as well.

[@CloudsOfClarity]

4:40 This is the most important point of the video. Belief in the 10% myth is a warrant for laziness (as if there will ever be a pill invented to "activate" the other 90% like in the Limitless movie), while taking the fact that we do use all of our brain to argue against the possibility of crazy mental abilities is another warrant for laziness.

[@iMacBoy91]

Cerebral cortex is just a sheet of neural tissue that covers the internal brain. Removing parts from the brain is definitely possible, and people usually go back to their normal life after doing a surgery. However, removing a complete half of a brain would certainly cause a permanent damage to whole nervous system. For example, removing the whole frontal lobe or the temporal lobe has side effects. But eradicating the damaged parts wouldn't do harm. Yeah, these kinda people are pretty common!

[@ramiallam]

Amazing channel, you better make sure to keep uploading on this channel and not to forget it while you do the others xD

[@gulllars]

The key was that the 10% was a rough estimate, and was regarding _at any given time_. Over time we use all of it, but if you use too much at one instant time or short period of time, it's likely you're having an epileptic attack. 2:35 there is the short answer to the question.

[@supermanleyturbopower2423]

Love these videos, really do. But to whomever films these, I suggest you move the angle of the camera for future videos. The presenters eyes are maybe 5-10 degrees off center from the camera. That sort of blank-inadvertent stare subconsciously plays on a viewers initial response to the reliability of the information given by the speaker. I would suggest having them look directly at the camera or set it at a greater angle. It just looks like a bunch of slightly cross-eyed people as is.

[@816bigbear]

Thank you for putting this on the Internet. May this help to seed sanity into the folks that believe such gibberish.

[@PeterWraaeMarino]

better pathways is also what I wrote when I stated "wired really good".. so we agree on that. This of course is from training, but some people have this naturally. When people use more of their brain then they are analyzing too much, because the solution isn't apparent for them. Multitasking I really don't know how the brain would do that... I can not think of two separate things at the same time... I usually just switch back and forth and that isn't really multitasking.

[@rebelliousbynature99]

I was asking how much of the brain can be physically lose and still function normally. I was not asking about deterioration of the brain. Diane Van Deren had a lobectomy, surgery to remove a part of her temporal lobe, and lives a relatively normal life. Ahad Israfil had half his head blown off and, though in a wheel chair, lives a relatively normal life. And most people who have hemispherectomies, the removal or disabling of half the brain, return to a normal life in 6-8 weeks.

[@jmsosullivan]

Hey Brady, I love the new channel! Incredibly interesting topics. Would it be possible to do one on nueroscience as well? I know it's very similar to psychology, but it's more from an angle asking; "how does the brain actually physically perform these amazing feats", rather than "these are the cool things we can observe humans doing". :)

[@JoMama1995X]

Could you do a video on 'lucid dreaming'? The internet is filled with all sorts of guides, contradictory information etc. It would clear up a lot of confusion if you could make a video on that topic.

[@Enthir]

So what they are saying is that we need to be clearer when defining what we mean when we say the brain only uses X% for any given task at any given time, and with that we could speculate that we could potentially activate a larger area (if that even makes the task easier) or more concentrated part of the brain for said task?

[@TJD005]

Our brain can process information more effectively while we sleep because it becomes less distracted by its environment. Normally we lose conscious control when this takes place. We dream whether we remember dreaming or not. Dreams are the information being processed by our brains. When we become conscious we get to see a glimpse of that information as we begin to sleep or wake. The more conscious you become, the more control you obtain. With full control you gain increased cognitive thought.

[@ForOrAgainstUs]

First, don't know why I was down-voted. Second, Brady usually gives the theoretical question asker the benefit of the doubt. It's brought up at 2:00 about using a portion it for a specific (conscious?) purpose. Can the brain be underutilized? Utilized fully? Is it being used 100% all the time whether we're thinking hard or hardly thinking? If not, what % is it used, and what % is that due to conscious purpose? Does learning or training increase our brain's ability to function at a higher level?

[@PuffPure]

I remember hearing this a few times, but I can't remember when or where, of if I believed it! I guess it is good to know though. Thanks for the upload!

[@okmasko]

Hi Brady, I'd be really interested in a video about our human brain compared to brain of other animal species and would love to hear from our experts what they think about other species (like dolphins and chimpanzees) that many claim to be (almost) as inteligent as us.. and stuff like that. It just came through my mind as a suggestion for you :) By the way, great work. I'm subscribed to all of your channels, you're my favourite youtuber :)

[@ryanthomasmccallum]

I loved learning about this, especially the case where the man did infact mistake his wife for a hat, and the utilisation behaviuor as well where if you put something like a pair of glasses in front of someone they impulsively put them on, and if you continue to put down more pairs they will keep putting more and more pairs of glasses on.

[@xLOKIx0830]

People who have a deficiency in a sense (aka blind, deaf, mute) tend to have enhanced efficiency in the other 4 senses, and I heard is is due to the area of the brain that is normally used for the inefficient sense (aka sight for blind people) is used to help the other 4 senses instead on focusing on a sense that doesn't work. Does this mean, if true, that any part of the brain can (theoretically) be used for any bodily or mental function?

[@Xergamesh]

Many years ago I saw a program about encephalitus (iirc) where brain scans showed a high-functioning victim whose brain was so damaged only a thin shell of brain tissue was active (albeit intensely) - and yet they seemed normal. Others with less damage were in much worse shape. Perhaps there is a link here with the 10% 'myth' in that nearly equivalent functionality can be obtained with much less available tissue. Would love to include a link but no luck so far - this was before the internet.

[@VictorAndScience]

I'm glad hearing all of these. I've heard this myth many times before, and very smart people claiming that it's true. This is an amazing material, definitely will give it plenty of shares.

[@Slithy]

I think it's more about concious tasks like analysis, recognition, reaction, calculation, memory etc. There are a lot of examples out there that the brain is capable of doing any sort of concious operation hundreds of times more efficiently than average human does. I think that's where 10% come from. But, since each brain is unique, it doesn't make sense to compare them.

[@lapkamil]

PLEASE MAKE MORE VIDEOS!!! PLEASE

[@Vreite]

Even that is not demonstrably attested of. Though if it were, using your metaphor, you'd be frying chips in one room, smelling it in another, remembering how it made you feel in a third and it would somehow activate your visual cortex in a fourth room... and it would all amount to... 10 percent? I have no idea.

[@trespire]

If the glands (pineal, thalamus etc.) are damaged, or the lower/basic layers (brain stem, & those right above it can't remember them right now) are damaged then the person can be severely impaired or life threatening. But if parts of the higher function cerebral cortex that's damaged/removed this area seems to be more "non specific" & can relearn to compensate if given enough time. On the other hand I know some people with a healthy whole brain yet behave as though they only have half !

[@Slithy]

Maybe, i have this kind of thought myself. Just like a muscle would rip apart due to excessive overload, brain also can be damaged by an excessive amount of data to process. Or, alternatively, there's just not enough juice to keep the whole cortex at a 100% performance level. Oxygen in the blood or whatever else powering the brain is limited in quantity, so...

[@smuecke]

Could you make a video about lucid dreaming? It's such a fascinating topic!

[@MisterJohnPadge]

I always thought of it in a non-literal sense. As in, people don't do as much thinking as they should. Instead they go straight into a situation without a plan or thinking of the consequences.

[@drulli6]

could you make a video on why some people are/ appear smarter than others. are the smarter ones with a better organized brain? or are they simply using more of some part than the others?

[@JustATotalNerd]

You just made my day. Thank you!

[@pyrosparkes]

do some people believe that it literally means 90% of the physical brain is unused? i always thought it was obvious that the statement referred to mental capability, to the point that i never even thought of the other view. i also think that it would be the other way round any way, that we use 90%, and have a potential 10% extra if we "work out" our brain regularly.

[@Law_xD]

this channel needs to be more active, psychology is such an interesting subject

[@blahblibidyblahblah]

He interviewed (apparent) psychologists and other scientists in the field and it would seem he asked the same question to all, "Is the statement 'we only use 10% of our brain true' why or why not?" and then they each responded. Being experts, I think the answers given were likely even toned down a bit from what they'd like to say. Also, perhaps no one is comfortable proposing how the whole brain works because we just don't know yet. I think I just used 11% of my brain

[@HSouichiro]

I've heard that this misconception came from early neuroscience which couldn't tell the purpose of neuroglia cells. The story is like this, when anatomist started a research on a human brain they found out that most of brain is mostly fatty cells and few nervecells. And at some occasion, the idea "Only 10% of our brain is working 'nerve cells'." misinterpreted by majority as "Only 10% of our brain is working.". I don't know it is true or not but I think it make sounds and explain why it happent.

[@StrayedThermidor]

The woman in black is so beautiful, I agree. All of the input by these Doctors or professors (what have you) compliment each other nonetheless. Great work OP, the editing was spot on.

[@Bugeto]

Brady we need more psyfile

[@JackHumphriesMagic]

'it certainly feels like that when you see the news and all the things that are happening because of the utter stupidity of people' I'm sorry, but this person deserves a medal

[@zibbydafuqjo4584]

Brain potential that is to be unlocked? 100% of the brain is literally an epileptic seizure.

[@GirishManjunathMusic]

On LSD ;D

[@MrHairyGoat]

Could you do a video on free will form neurological point of view?

[@Kante0]

Just wondered if there is any relation between psychologist Ellen Poliakoff and Prof. Martyn Poliakoff from periodicvideos... and she's in fact his daughter :D

[@algernon6666]

please make a video about the psychology of love, please

[@aarongarwood1704]

What change has brought about you being able to be making videos with people at Manchester?

[@Hypatia4242]

Where can we get a list of your channels? It would make subscribing easier.

[@Zielkenoel]

I have a question, Brady. What capacity of the brain is being used during multitasking? For example, listening to music while cleaning.

[@ForOrAgainstUs]

I don't understand why you said you don't understand. You reiterated exactly what I was saying. I "realize that the only reason you even had the ability to POST something... is because, with so much of our brain being automated... we have the capacity for sentience" hence my question, what % is for conscious use? What portion of that is for sentience? This video was a dig at dullards rather than taking a dumb idea and treating the viewers to some knowledge on why people have the misconception.

[@VarunRevamped]

THIS CHANNEL NEED MORE VIDEOS! Btw, thank you. :D

[@progoslomo]

I agree with Riktovitch. Good job mate! :)

[@TJD005]

I know this is 4 months old, but ill still reply. Yes. To access more than "10% of our brain" you have to maintain consciousness while being subjected to subconscious states (sleep states). This is difficult as the brain normally "jolts itself" awake by generating the urge to move, or an itch to scratch. The best way to do this is wake up half way through sleep, 3-5 hours tops. Then relax, the body slowly falls back asleep as you maintain awareness. Afterwards you just might experience "ESP".

[@xicosim6524]

It's not only about quantity, but quality too (and mostly)

[@otakucode]

Is there a place where we can submit questions we'd like to see answered on this channel?

[@the1butterfly]

I was told in my audial and visual perception class that the 10% myth comes from the fact that if you attach electrodes to different brain cells, only 10% of them control things that will show up to an outside observer without brain imaging (like movements). This would have been before there was more modern technology, but I still wonder about the origins of the myth because I don't know what the history of that kind of invasive human testing is...

[@funnnnnnnn3442]

We do use 100% of our brain, but not all at the same time. Let’s pretend there’s a table you have that you place and move things on it a lot. Do you use 100% of the table at any instant? No (unless the whole table is covered with objects all the time). Do you use 100% of the table throughout the year? Yes. After a year, most likely almost every part of the surface of the table will have had something put on it. Do we use 100% of our brain at a given instant? No, about 10% to 30% are being used at any given instant depending on the task. Do we use 100% of our brain throughout the day? Yes, most likely every single part of the brain will have been used after a day, but they weren’t all used at the same time. Is 100% of the brain active all the time? It kind of depends on your definition of “active”, but in general, yes. Are 100% of the neurons in the brain constantly activated? No, only some are activated at any given instant. But that certainly doesn’t mean the rest of the neurons are dead. It just means they aren’t being used (they aren’t firing nor receiving signals from adjacent neurons). So do we use 100% of our brain at an instant? Never. But we do use 100% throughout the day right? Yes. So technically we do use 100% of our brain but just not all 100% at the same time right? Exactly. So the “we only use 10% of our brain” myth is kind of true right? Yes, at any given instant we use 10% to 30% of our brain depending on the task. Therefore, the answer depends on how you interpret the question. Watch 1:57 to 2:53. Pay very close attention. She explained what I'm trying to say quite perfectly.

[@HoboByDesignSA]

Don't people occasionally undergo hemispherectomies without impairment?

[@ChiktarWorshipper]

I'd like to hear what these people have to say about savants, in particular after statements such as 2:53

[@Hobo_X]

They all say basically "it's a load of crap" but around 2:35 she's saying basically any given task only uses around 10%. I think that's what the "myth" was originally meant to construe. Like it was meant to represent when we are, cutting vegetables for example, we don't have 90% of our brain focusing on something like slicing carrots. If anything, the myth itself is the thing being misunderstood.

[@lmao1214]

I think that if a specific part of the brain is never or only rarely used it will simply decay over time, so if you dont use certain parts of your brain once in a while they will be gone after some time.

[@SophieNgJingYi]

Could you list them all?

[@MMarroquin1024]

"What's the other 90% for, then" has to be the best way to reply to that statement.

[@Hythloday71]

One of the professor says we don't know, the others just 'bluntly assert' it's rubbish. Only at the end does the prof consider, what might be called in the sphere of critical thinking - 'principle of charity'. Now one unconsidered meaning is to consider / estimate the information storage capabilities of neurons, the number we have, and the amount of information which we do retain - maybe this is the 10% discrepency ?

[@YassirWanti]

is there any kind of activity that uses ~100% of our brain, what are the effects of such kind of activities on our brain is it positive or negative???.... and is there any serious study on the impact of video games on the brain ???

[@rebelliousbynature99]

How much of the brain is redundant? How much can we lose and still function normally?

[@JhypnoP]

can you prove the subconsious exists. i have done alot of reading into the conscious and sub-conscious "states" becausei had intrests in hypnosis and there is so much debate on the existance of both of them its unreal

[@TheOniromane]

I subscribed before watching the comments.

[@rc23robert]

Is the reason you focus on the interviewees heads to reenforce the idea of this channel being about the mind and brain ?

[@LanttuLoL]

Can I have a catalog?

[@Pwegoable]

"I nearly turned around and... smacked em on da head, dont worry you dont use that part" lol

[@LucidEnigma21]

exactly! like how are you to determine whether the brain only uses 10% when you're only using that "10%" to generate that "fact"... If anything, the power & usage of your brain varies in all kinds of different categories.

[@kingofcobwebs]

Other people have already "debunked" the human dual-existence state - of being a sentient being with rational understanding of consciousness, with the dynamic capacity to manipulate thoughts and images within the imagination, and simultaneously an instinctual animal functioning on impulse alone - by using their personal philosophies. But we are not concerned with human philosophy here. We just want cold data - the human mind can produce its own personal philosophy. It is an awesome channel!

[@gavinplaysbass]

There's a part of the hippocampus called the dentate gyrus in which it's thought that something like 95% of the cells at any given time are non-functional

[@jrnyenhuis]

Talk about the "early days" of psychology (not so long ago!) from which this myth originates! The evolution of the field is quite interesting.

[@AugustBooth]

I always imagined nerve signals as little electrical impulses, and at any given moment, approximately 10-20% of the brain is active sending a signal down to a different 10-20% section. Perhaps there is some small truth to the 10% saying?

[@ChaseStabRapeRun]

I love what the woman with the large eyes says at 2:52.

[@lapkamil]

maybe you could make a video about geniuses

[@ForOrAgainstUs]

During the whole video I kept wanting to tell them, "10% available for conscious use!" Such as, you don't have control of your autonomic nervous system or complete control over emotions, but you do have conscious control over certain areas. I felt much of this video was an insult to people have thought about this and wondered how much conscious control we do have.

[@TheMudaheranwa]

The other possibility I heard is that we use 10% of our brain n the sens that a lamborgini would roll at 30 km/h even though it's potential is 300 km/ h ... Is it possible that we could do more with this wonderful organ of ours ? Could we be more than what we are now ? Is our brain capable of amazing things that we're not even aware of ?

[@idkwtflol13]

It would be interesting to talk about Phineas P. Gage, he had a iron rod through his skull and lived for a long time.

[@chrisscullynz]

who are all these people? obviously brain academics, but it would be great to see there names and qualifications.

[@WMfin]

Great video! :)

[@ryanonism]

could u then say that u only use part of your brain at any given time? im not sure what that would mean to use your whole brain at the same time. so the way that we count 10% is how much area of the brain is active? i dont think you could say that 100% of that 10% is active either since if everything fired at the same time wouldnt that just be incomprehensible pulses that result in seizure? just like a computer it need steps, so does that mean its impossible to use 100% of ur brain all the time

[@arecus54]

I am very curious about how much of our brain's potential do we use...

[@skuzzbunny]

the brain is MUCH more complicated than ANY of these statements give it credit for. the nice thing about losing an entire half is, the other half us almost an exact copy functionally, so potentially you can get away with a lot. of course, if a REALLY important bit gets hit, and it's the only bit that can do that, you can be completely crippled by a tiny ding. comparing it to a computer is really inaccurate, at least physically, as the brain's whole thing is its bizarrely distributed network.

[@Kntrabssi]

I feel like a student at Nottingham. We should all get degrees if we make it through all your videos!

[@psychobollox]

interesting notion!

[@okmasko]

May be not a debunking video, because that might turn out very subjectivly. It'd be better to just ask those experts what they think (and we all know what they gonna say :)

[@mfaizsyahmi]

I spotted the Dalek on the shelf...

[@ForOrAgainstUs]

Well, again, maybe I'm being oversensitive or asking too much, but Brady asks some of the best questions that everyone else is thinking in his other videos and I feel like I was let down in this one. I felt like the person being scoffed at, even though I am not one of the 10 percenters. I felt like there was an inside joke going on and I wasn't invited and everyone was laughing at me, regardless of the fact that I have valid questions.

[@BaileyWootn]

How many channels do you have, Brady?

[@vytautasge7085]

You just made me to subscribe to your channel!!!

[@CeneezerTube]

I love that "didn't thin it was appropriate" your very right, it's never appropriate to educate the uneducated.... schools should all be closed, churches should run rampant.... it's no wonder were in the world we are today!