While researchers are still uncovering the secrets of how the brain works, they have discovered plenty of information about what goes on inside your head. Unfortunately, there are still a lot of misunderstandings about the brain. The following are the facts behind just a few of the many misconceptions.
We Don’t Just Use 10% of Our Brains
People often use this inaccurate stat to imply that the mind is capable of much greater things, such as dramatically increased intelligence, psychic abilities, or even telekinesis.
- If the 10% number were true, brain damage would be far less likely-after all, we would only have to worry about that tiny 10% brain being injured.
Using Learning Styles Isn’t Necessarily Effective
Learning styles suggest that each person has a preferred learning style that helps them learn best.
- There’s little research to suggest that learning based on your preferred style actually has any impact on learning outcomes. One large-scale study found no evidence to support the use of learning style assessment instruments.
Brain Damage Isn’t Always Permanent
The brain is fragile and can be damaged by things such as injury, stroke, or disease.
- A person’s ability to recover from brain damage depends upon the severity and location of the injury.
- Even following a serious brain event, it is possible for the brain to partially or fully heal itself over time and form new connections.
Alcohol Can Affect Your Brain Cells
Partly related to the misconception that we never grow new neurons is the idea that drinking alcohol can lead to cell death in the brain.
People Aren’t Fully Right- or Left-Brained
While experts do recognize that there is lateralization of brain function (that is, certain types of tasks and thinking tend to be more associated with a particular region of the brain), no one is fully right- or left-brained.
- In fact, we tend to do better at tasks when we engage the entire brain, even for things that are typically related to a certain area of brain.
There Are About 85 Billion Neurons in the Human Brain
This number has been repeated so often and for so long that no one is completely sure where it originated
- In 2009, one researcher decided to count neurons in adult brains and found that the number was just a bit off the mark
- Based on this research, it appears that the human brain contains closer to 85 billion neurons
Humans Don’t Have the Biggest Brains
The human brain is quite large in proportion to human body size, but humans don’t have the largest brains of any organism.
- Though the proportion of the human brain to the human body is larger than many animals, the notion that it’s the largest is also inaccurate.
New Brain Cells May Form Throughout Life
Experts have uncovered evidence that the human adult brain does indeed form new cells throughout life, even during old age.
- The process of forming new brain cells is known as neurogenesis, and researchers have found that it happens in at least one important region of the brain called the hippocampus.
