"We only use 10% of our brain capacity".

FALSE

A quote erroneously attributed to Albert Einstein, is in fact a fallacy without any scientific basis, which uses certain spiritualist doctrines such as Scientology to accommodate supposed psychic powers still latent or an unreasonable potential intelligence. An assertion which, however, does not appear in the books of psychology or physiology of the brain, and which has been strongly denied by neuroscience during the last decades.

The human brain consumes 14 percent of total body energy despite constituting only 3 percent of it. Although this figure may seem reduced, comparatively speaking, we are macrocephalic (we would be even more so if it were not for the collapsed structure of the cerebral cortex). For this reason, we leave the maternal womb before being fully prepared to survive on our own; If we continued to develop inside, our head would not pass through the cervix. Its size is costly for survival, as it can put the life of the mother and the child during childbirth at risk. From the evolutionary point of view, it does not make sense to take that risk and then waste 90 percent of its potential capacity.

Where did it come from

How can an idea without biological or physiological foundation expand on all sides?
It is difficult to trace the original source.
American psychologist and philosopher William James wrote in the book "The energies of men" that we make use of only a small part of our possible mental and physical resources. He was optimistic and thought that people could achieve more, but he does not refer to the volume of the brain or the amount of cells, nor does it give a specific percentage.
The 10% figure is mentioned in the prologue to the 1936 edition of Dale Carnegie's popular book "How to Win Friends and Influence People," and sometimes there are people who say that Albert Einstein was the source. However, Della Sala has tried to find that date, and not even those who work in the Albert Einstein archive have been able to find it.

So it seems to be another myth.

It is probable that this myth arose from a misinterpretation of the neurological investigations carried out in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, such as Pierre Flourens or William James, who in his essay "The Energies of Men" (1907) , Wrote: "We only take a small part of our mental and physical resources."

The confusion may also be due to the fact that neurons make up only 10 percent of brain cells; The rest are glial cells. Nine out of ten cells in the brain are called glia or glial cells, which are supporting cells and provide physical and nutritional assistance to the other 10% of the cells, the neurons, that are in charge of "thinking".

So 10% thinks and the other 90% helps to think ....

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