как работает человеческий мозг
Фактчекинг: на сколько процентов работает мозг человека?
Как отмечают в соцсетях, в интернете встречаются утверждения о том, что человеческий мозг работает лишь на 10%. «У человека мозг работает на 10% ...
пишет портал wired.
Другим возможным источником мифа о 10% могло стать утверждение о том, что якобы Эйнштейн объяснял свою интеллектуальную одаренность способностью использовать более 10% своего мозга, <anchor>пишет портал wired.</anchor> Однако Эйнштейн такого не утверждал.
All You Need To Know About the 10 Percent Brain Myth, in 60 Seconds | WIRED
All You Need To Know About the 10 Percent Brain Myth, in 60 Seconds \| WIRED

[Skip to main content](#main-content)

Open Navigation Menu
Menu

Story Saved

To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then [View saved stories](/account/saved).

Close Alert

[![WIRED](/verso/static/wired/assets/logo-header.svg)](/)

All You Need To Know About the 10 Percent Brain Myth, in 60 Seconds

- [Security](/category/security/)
- [Politics](https://www.wired.com/category/politics/)
- [Gear](/category/gear/)
- [The Big Story](/category/big-story/)
- [Business](/category/business/)
- [Science](/category/science/)
- [Culture](/category/culture/)
- [Ideas](/category/ideas/)
- [Merch](https://shop.wired.com/)

More _Chevron_

[Search\
Search](/search/)

- [Security](/category/security/)
- [Politics](https://www.wired.com/category/politics/)
- [Gear](/category/gear/)
- [The Big Story](/category/big-story/)
- [Business](/category/business/)
- [Science](/category/science/)
- [Culture](/category/culture/)
- [Ideas](/category/ideas/)
- [Merch](https://shop.wired.com/)

- [Podcasts](/podcasts/)
- [Video](/video/)
- [Newsletters](https://www.wired.com/newsletter?sourceCode=navbar)
- [Magazine](https://www.wired.com/magazine)
- [Travel](http://wired.com/travel)
- [Steven Levy's Plaintext Column](https://www.wired.com/tag/plaintext/)
- [WIRED Classics from the Archive](https://www.wired.com/tag/wired-classic/)
- [Events](https://www.wired.com/tag/wired-events/)
- [WIRED Insider](/category/wiredinsider/)
- [WIRED Consulting](/tag/wired-consulting/ )
- [Jobs](https://jobs.wired.com/?source=navbar)
- [Coupons](https://www.wired.com/coupons)

[Christian Jarrett](/author/christian-jarrett/)

[Science](/category/science)

Jul 24, 2014 7:51 AM

# All You Need To Know About the 10 Percent Brain Myth, in 60 Seconds

The new Luc Besson movie Lucy, starring Scarlett Johansson, opened in theaters countrywide on Friday. It's based on the premise that we use only 10 percent of our brains. That's not true, but it's a myth that just won't die.

![The reality is that we already use 100 percent of our brains](https://media.wired.com/photos/59324e535c4fbd732b551bd8/master/w_2560%2Cc_limit/brain1.jpg)

The reality is that we already use 100 percent of our brains[\_DJ\_/Flickr](https://www.flickr.com/photos/flamephoenix1991/8376271918)

Save this storySave

Save this storySave

If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. [Learn more](https://www.wired.com/2015/11/affiliate-link-policy/). Please also consider [subscribing to WIRED](https://subscribe.wired.com/subscribe/splits/wired/WIR_SELF?source=HCL_WIR_EDIT_HARDCODED_0_COMMERCE_AFFILIATE_ZZ)

The new Luc Besson movie [Lucy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_(2014_film)), starring Scarlett Johansson, opens tomorrow in theaters countrywide. It's based on the immortal myth that we use only 10 percent of our brains. Johansson's character is implanted with drugs that allow her to access 100 percent of her brain capacity. She subsequently gains the ability to learn Chinese in an instant, beat up bad guys, and throw cars with her mind (among other new talents). Morgan Freeman plays neuroscientist Professor Norman, who's built his career around the 10 percent claim. "It is estimated most human beings use only 10 percent of the brain's capacity," he says, "Imagine if we could access 100 percent."

As it happens, I've written a book all about brain myths ( [Great Myths of the Brain](http://www.psychologywriter.org.uk/Index/Welcome.html); due out this November). I thought I'd use what I learned to give you a 60-second explainer on the 10 percent myth.

_Great Myths of the Brain_, by Christian Jarrett, was published in 2014. [Buy on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Great-Myths-Brain-Psychology/dp/1118312716).

Where does the myth originate?

No-one knows for sure. A popular theory has it that the journalist Lowell Thomas helped spread the myth in his preface to Dale Carnegie's block-buster self-help book _How to Win Friends and Influence People_. Thomas misquoted the brilliant American psychologist William James as saying that the average person specifically "develops only 10 percent of his latent mental ability." In fact James had referred more vaguely to our "latent mental energy." Others have claimed that Einstein attributed his intellectual giftedness to being able to use more than 10 percent of his brain, but this is itself a myth. Another possible source of the 10 percent myth is neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield's discovery in the 1930s of "silent cortex" - brain areas that appeared to have no function when he stimulated them with electricity. We know today that these areas are functional.

Is Lucy the first movie to use the 10 percent myth as a premise?

No, the 2011 movie [Limitless](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1219289/), starring Bradley Cooper was based on the same idea, except the precise figure was placed at 20 percent. Cooper's character takes a pill that lets him access the full 100 percent. Both the 1991 film [Defending Your Life](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defending_Your_Life) (thanks to [A Voice in The Wilderness](https://www.wired.com/2014/07/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-10-brain-myth-explained-in-60-seconds/#comment-1502147346) for flagging this up in the comments) and [Flight of the Navigator](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_of_the_Navigator) (1986) include claims that most of us use a fraction of our brains. The myth is also invoked in the TV series [Heroes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroes_(TV_series)), to explain why some people have special powers.

Does anyone really believe this myth anymore?

Apparently so. For example, in 2012, [a survey](http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00429/full) of school teachers in Britain and The Netherlands found that 48 per cent and 46 per cent, respectively, endorsed the myth. Last year, [a US survey](http://www.harrisinteractive.com/vault/MichaelJFoxFoundRelease_9.25.13.pdf) by the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research found that 65 percent of people believed in the myth.

Is there _any_ truth to the myth?

Certainly there is no truth to the idea that we only use 10 percent of our neural matter. Modern brain scans show activity coursing through the entire organ, even when we're resting. Minor brain damage can have devastating effects - not what you'd expect if we had 90 percent spare capacity. Also, consider the situation when neural tissue representing a limb is rendered redundant by the loss of that limb. Very quickly, neighbouring areas recruit that tissue into new functions, for example to represent other body regions. This shows how readily the brain utilises all available neural tissue.

So why does the myth persist?

For many people, the 10 percent myth sounds both feasible and appealing because they see it in terms of human potential. Many of us believe that we could achieve so much more - learning languages, musical instruments, sporting skills - if only we applied ourselves. It's easy to see how this morphs into the shorthand idea that we use just 10 percent of our brain's capacity or potential.

Does it matter that films like Lucy spread the 10 percent myth?

It certainly bothers a lot of neuroscientists. There are so many widely held misunderstandings about the brain that scientists find it extremely unhelpful to have more nonsense spread to millions of movie goers. Other people I've spoken to are more optimistic and think that audiences will realize that the claims are not meant to be taken seriously. I have to admit, I enjoyed _Limitless_ despite the daft premise.

I haven't yet seen Lucy. I'd love to hear your thoughts on whether it's a good movie in spite of the bad science, and if so, does that justify further propagation of the 10 percent myth?

Most Popular

- Gear



[How Do You Solve a Problem Like Polestar?](https://www.wired.com/story/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-polestar/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_b2532d2f-10c8-456b-ac72-b2c31f71481d_popular4-1-reranked-by-vidi)







By Carlton Reid

- Gear



[Everything Apple Announced Today](https://www.wired.com/story/everything-apple-announced-iphone-16-apple-watch-series-10-new-airpods/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_b2532d2f-10c8-456b-ac72-b2c31f71481d_popular4-1-reranked-by-vidi)







By Boone Ashworth

- Security



[What You Need to Know About Grok AI and Your Privacy](https://www.wired.com/story/grok-ai-privacy-opt-out/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_b2532d2f-10c8-456b-ac72-b2c31f71481d_popular4-1-reranked-by-vidi)







By Kate O'Flaherty

- Gear



[The Best Hearing Aids We’ve Personally Tested and Vetted With an Expert](https://www.wired.com/gallery/best-hearing-aids/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_b2532d2f-10c8-456b-ac72-b2c31f71481d_popular4-1-reranked-by-vidi)







By Christopher Null


[![](https://media.wired.com/photos/65e8598633777c1e2bbd04ef/1:1/w_270%2Cc_limit/undefined)](/author/christian-jarrett/)

[Christian Jarrett](/author/christian-jarrett/) is editor of the British Psychological Society's Research Digest blog. A cognitive neuroscientist turned science writer, his latest book is Great Myths of the Brain.

- [X](https://www.twitter.com/Psych_Writer)

Topics [Brains and Behavior](/tag/brains-and-behavior/) [Brain Watch](/tag/brain-watch/)

Read More

[This Is the Most Detailed Map of Human Brain Connections Ever Made](https://www.wired.com/story/this-is-the-most-detailed-map-of-brain-connections-ever-made-google-harvard/#intcid=recommendations_wired-bottom-recirc-v4_3661f86d-8c99-4fc2-a0da-50f1515e715e_entity-topic-similarity-v2_fallback_cral2-2)

In a world first, Harvard biologists worked with Google to diagram a cubic millimeter of human cerebral cortex at the subcellular level, paving the way for the next generation of brain science.

Isabel Fraser

[This Gargantuan Lab Simulates Blasting Satellites Into Space](https://www.wired.com/story/national-satellite-testing-facility-uk-nstf/#intcid=recommendations_wired-bottom-recirc-v4_3661f86d-8c99-4fc2-a0da-50f1515e715e_entity-topic-similarity-v2_fallback_cral2-2)

If you spend millions of dollars developing a satellite, you need to know it can handle the rigors of hurtling around the Earth at 17,000 mph. The UK's National Satellite Test Facility is here to help.

Jonathan O’Callaghan

[NASA Nears Decision Time on Boeing Starliner’s Fate](https://www.wired.com/story/nasa-boeing-starliner-decision/#intcid=recommendations_wired-bottom-recirc-v4_3661f86d-8c99-4fc2-a0da-50f1515e715e_entity-topic-similarity-v2_fallback_cral2-2)

There’s now a significant chance the spacecraft’s crew will have to return to Earth on a different one—and maybe not until next year.

Stephen Clark, Ars Technica

[How to See the Conjunction Between Mars, Jupiter, and the Moon This August](https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-see-the-conjunction-between-mars-jupiter-and-the-moon-this-august/#intcid=recommendations_wired-bottom-recirc-v4_3661f86d-8c99-4fc2-a0da-50f1515e715e_entity-topic-similarity-v2_fallback_cral2-2)

On the 27th, the celestial bodies will form an unusual triangle in the sky just before dawn.

Jorge Garay

[The Green Economy Is Hungry for Copper—and People Are Stealing, Fighting, and Dying to Feed It](https://www.wired.com/story/power-metal-green-economy-is-hungry-for-copper/#intcid=recommendations_wired-bottom-recirc-v4_3661f86d-8c99-4fc2-a0da-50f1515e715e_entity-topic-similarity-v2_fallback_cral2-2)

With the possible exception of gold, no other metal has caused as much destruction as copper. In the coming years, we’ll need more of it than ever.

Vince Beiser

[The US Grid Is Adding Batteries at a Much Faster Rate Than Natural Gas](https://www.wired.com/story/us-grid-battery-solar-wind-natural-gas-rate/#intcid=recommendations_wired-bottom-recirc-v4_3661f86d-8c99-4fc2-a0da-50f1515e715e_entity-topic-similarity-v2_fallback_cral2-2)

The shift toward renewables is officially in high gear.

John Timmer, Ars Technica

[Here’s What the Inside of an Airbus Factory Looks Like](https://www.wired.com/story/heres-what-the-inside-of-an-airbus-factory-looks-like/#intcid=recommendations_wired-bottom-recirc-v4_3661f86d-8c99-4fc2-a0da-50f1515e715e_entity-topic-similarity-v2_fallback_cral2-2)

In Hamburg, aviation giant Airbus is transforming aircraft production with state-of-the-art robotics technology on its planes. We go on a behind-the-scenes visit for the delivery of an A321neo.

Antonio Dini

[Scientists Plan ‘Doomsday’ Vault on Moon](https://www.wired.com/story/scientists-want-to-build-a-doomsday-vault-on-the-moon/#intcid=recommendations_wired-bottom-recirc-v4_3661f86d-8c99-4fc2-a0da-50f1515e715e_entity-topic-similarity-v2_fallback_cral2-2)

Climate change is threatening Earth’s biodiversity. Could frozen regions of the moon be the best place to “back up” life-forms?

Ayurella Horn-Muller

[![WIRED](/verso/static/wired/assets/logo-reverse.svg)](/)

WIRED is where tomorrow is realized. It is the essential source of information and ideas that make sense of a world in constant transformation. The WIRED conversation illuminates how technology is changing every aspect of our lives—from culture to business, science to design. The breakthroughs and innovations that we uncover lead to new ways of thinking, new connections, and new industries.

More From WIRED

- [Subscribe](https://www.wired.com/subscribe/)
- [Newsletters](https://www.wired.com/newsletter?sourceCode=HeaderAndFooter)
- [FAQ](https://www.wired.com/about/faq/)
- [WIRED Staff](https://www.wired.com/about/wired-staff/)
- [Editorial Standards](https://www.wired.com/about/wired-on-background-policy/)
- [Archive](https://archive.wired.com/t/storefront/storefront)
- [RSS](https://www.wired.com/about/rss-feeds/)
- [Accessibility Help](https://www.wired.com/about/accessibility-help/)

Reviews and Guides

- [Reviews](https://www.wired.com/category/gear/reviews/)
- [Buying Guides](https://www.wired.com/category/gear/buying-guides/)
- [Mattresses](https://www.wired.com/gallery/best-mattresses/)
- [Electric Bikes](https://www.wired.com/gallery/best-electric-bikes/)
- [Soundbars](https://www.wired.com/gallery/best-soundbars/)
- [Streaming Guides](https://www.wired.com/tag/culture-guides/)
- [Coupons](https://www.wired.com/coupons)
- [Submit an Offer](https://www.wired.com/coupons/submit-offer)
- [Become a Partner](https://www.wired.com/coupons/business-partners)
- [Coupons Contact](https://www.wired.com/coupons/contact)
- [Code Guarantee](https://www.wired.com/coupons/info/code-guarantee.html)

- [Advertise](https://www.condenast.com/brands/wired)
- [Contact Us](https://www.wired.com/about/feedback/)
- [Customer Care](https://subscriptions.wired.com/pubs/N3/WIR/Register.jsp?cds_page_id=175371&cds_mag_code=WIR&id=1423757547774&lsid=50431012277019467&vid=1)
- [Jobs](https://www.wired.com/about/wired-jobs/)
- [Press Center](https://www.wired.com/about/press/)
- [Condé Nast Store](https://www.condenaststore.com/)
- [User Agreement](https://www.condenast.com/user-agreement/)
- [Privacy Policy](http://www.condenast.com/privacy-policy#privacypolicy)
- [Your California Privacy Rights](http://www.condenast.com/privacy-policy#privacypolicy-california)

© 2024 Condé Nast. All rights reserved. _WIRED_ may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. [Ad Choices](http://www.aboutads.info)

###### Select international site

United StatesLargeChevron

- [Italia](https://www.wired.it/)
- [Japón](https://wired.jp/)
- [Czech Republic & Slovakia](https://www.wired.cz/)

- [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/wired/)
- [X](https://twitter.com/wired/)
- [Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/wired/)
- [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/user/wired/)
- [Instagram](https://instagram.com/wired/)
- [Tiktok](https://www.tiktok.com/@wired?lang=en)