Misinterpretation Of The Brain

This essay discusses the misconception about the percentage of the brain we use at any given time. Despite there is no scientific evidence the commonly held notion is that humans only use ten percent of their brains is the most common among neuromyths. The lesser know reality is that we have access to our full brain potential. Throughout human history, rumors and exaggerated stories spread like wildfire. They seem to be related to human fears, and the collective effort to ménage them. The fallacies involved are Irrational Appeal to Common Belief, Unwarranted Assumption, Hasty Conclusion, Attributing a motive, and Straw man.
The belief people use only ten percent of their brains on a daily basis is eagerly diffuse. According to an online survey, sponsored by The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, almost 65 percent of Americans believe this statement is true ("New Survey”). The belief’s origins are unsure, but it seems to be the result of the misinterpretation of scientists’ theories about the unexpressed human potential. In his dissertation, The Energies of Men, William James states, "We are making use of only a small part of our possible mental and physical resources" (James 12). One of the earliest sources could be, also, the misinterpretation the work Jean Pierre Flourens, one of the founding fathers of modern cognitive sciences, …show more content…
Interestingly, the brain itself has no pain receptor, so we can electrically stimulate conscious patients under local anesthetic. The behavioral neuroscience is eagerly aided by the advent of increasingly sophisticated technologies to examine functional traffic of the brain. Despite the progress, the electrical stimulation of points of the brain failed to uncover dormant areas of the brain. Therefore, thanks to today 's technology we can assume to use the brain in its totality, but still we cannot disprove the existence of “silent