The human brain is a wonderful thing, even if some of us tend not to use it as much as we should. Science has revealed a lot about the way these squishy organs operate, and we now know more about our brains than ever before. But some of what we think we know just isn’t so. Here are a few myths about brains you’re probably heard before.* Most people use only 10% of their brains. This myth doesn’t even make sense. Actually, while we’re typically not using every neuron in our brain all the time, there are no brain regions that aren’t activated at some point or another (even if it’s just when we’re sleeping). And losing 90% of your brain would not be very nice at all.
* Bigger brains mean smarter animals. This isn’t exactly false, but it’s important to remember this special factor: bigger brains relative to body size means (other things being equal) smarter animals. Otherwise sperm whales would be five times smarter than us.
* Subliminal messages can make you want and do things. Actually, research shows that a message that can’t be processed by your conscious mind is unlikely to have any effect on your behaviour at all. So you don’t need to worry about hidden messages in your TV shows trying to make you buy products – that’s what expensive 30-second adverts are for.
