Brain Myths Demystified

Brain Myths Demystified

#1. Myth
People with larger brains are smarter than people with smaller brains.
Fact

There is no correlation between brain size and intelligence.Although whales,dolphins and elephants have brains that are larger than those of humans,they are not necessarily more intelligent than humans.Also,on average,men have larger brains than women.However,men are not smarter than women.

#2. Myth
When we sleep our bodies and brains are at rest.
Fact

The brain is active 24 hours a day.Although our bodies are at rest when we sleep, recordings of brain activity show that the brain goes through different stages when we sleep.One stage,called rapid eye movement (REM) sleep,is accompanied by brainwave patterns and levels of cellular electrical activity that are similar to those seen when a person is awake.REM sleep is also the stage when most dreams occur.

#3. Myth
We use only ten percent of our brain.
Fact

We use all of our brain.Brain imaging methods,such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and positron emission tomography (PET),show that the entire brain is active,although not at the same time.The amount of brain activity depends on what the brain is doing.Certainly all 100 billion nerve cells (neurons) of the brain are not firing impulses at the same time,but all of the brain is used at one time or another.Damage to far less than 90 percent of the brain can cause devastating changes in the ability to talk,move,think and remember.

#4. Myth
Touching the brain will hurt.
Fact

The brain is not sensitive to touch.Poke it,pull it,prod it...the brain won't feel a thing.Although the brain receives and interprets information from the senses,it doesn't have the ability to detect anything itself.Unlike the skin,eyes and other sense organs,the brain has no specialized receptors to detect light,pressure,heat or cold.

#5. Myth
Humans have right-brain or left-brain personalities.
Fact

Personality is not a right- or left-brained function.Rather,personality and other complex higher functions depend on both the right and left sides of the brain.Although one side of the brain may be “dominant”for some behaviors,especially language,both sides of the brain play a role in most tasks.

#6. Myth
When we learn something new,we get a new “wrinkle”in our brain.
Fact

Although brain changes,such as strengthening of the connections between neurons,do occur when new things are learned,new wrinkles in the brain are not formed.The “wrinkles”that are seen on the outside of the brain are formed by folds in the cerebral cortex.These folds allow the large surface area of the cerebral cortex to fit into the limited volume of the skull.