There is a semi-popular belief in society that we only use 10% of our brain. A study in 2013 shows this is the most prevalent misconception about psychology [1]. But where did this notion come from? There are various speculations regarding the origin of this belief. One example is a misunderstood quote from William James, a pioneer in earlier periods of Psychology: “(people) are making use of only a small part of our possible mental and physical resources.” [3]. However, when this is read in its proper context, it certainly refers to people not fully achieving their highest potential. This out-of-context quote eventually evolved into: “Humans only use 10% of their brain” implying potential supernatural capabilities. This attractive idea embedded itself in popular culture aided by movies such as Lucy (2014) and Limitless (2011). Scientific American debunks this myth by posing several pieces of evidence [2]. One example is brain damage with differential magnitudes (even 1%) resulting in human functional/behavioral abnormalities. To this day, there is no scientific evidence suggesting humans can have supernatural abilities. Therefore, this assumption is proven to be WRONG.
After All;
Do we only use 10 percent of our brain? Wrong.
