The claim
“Humans use only 10% of their brains”
Myth
Brain mapping suggests every area of the brain has a job and is used nearly all the time.
What's really going on
This is one of the best-known myths about the brain. Brain mapping suggests that every area of the brain has a function and is used nearly all the time.
The receipts
“The ten-percent-of-the-brain myth states that humans generally use only one-tenth (or some other small fraction) of their brains.”
“the physiology of brain mapping suggests that all areas of the brain have a function and that they are used nearly all the time.”
More myths
Myth“Bulls charge because they hate the color red”Bulls are dichromatic, a kind of color blindness, so the red of the cape is irrelevant to them. Myth“Goldfish have a three-second memory”Goldfish remember things for months, not seconds. Disputed“The Great Wall of China is visible from space with the naked eye”Not the way the legend says. It's too narrow and blends into the land, and astronauts disagree about whether they've seen it.