三分之二的人相信一个流传了一个多世纪的神话：我们只用了10%的大脑。几乎没有！我们的神经元密集型大脑进化到使用最少的能量，同时携带尽可能多的信息——这一壮举需要整个大脑。Richard E.Cytowic揭开了这个神经学的神话（并解释了为什么我们不擅长多任务处理）。[共同导演，艾迪生·安德森叙述]。
演讲题目: What percentage of your brain do you use?
An enduring myth says we use only 10% of our brain, the other 90% standing idly by for spare capacity. Hucksters promised to unlock that hidden potential with methods "based on neuroscience," but all they really unlock is your wallet. Two-thirds of the public and nearly half of science teachers mistakenly believe the 10% myth. In the 1890s, William James, the father of American psychology, said, "Most of us do not meet our mental potential." James meant this as a challenge, not an indictment of scant brain usage. But the misunderstanding stuck.
一个经久不衰的迷思声称，我们只运用大脑的十分之一，剩下的百分之九十只不过是备用的存储而已。某些假行家声称可以用“基于神经科学”的方法来开发那90%的隐藏潜力，但他们真正打开的不过是你的钱包。三分之二的大众以及近半数的科学教师误以为，人只能开发了十分之一大脑的“神话”。在19世纪90年代，威廉 · 詹姆斯，美国心理学之父曾说，“我们大多数人是不能开发我们全部的脑力潜能。”詹姆斯的话意味着这是一项挑战，而并非控诉我们大脑较少的使用率。但这个误会一直困扰着大家。
Also, scientists couldn t figure out for a long time the purpose of our massive frontal lobes or broad areas of the parietal lobe. Damage didn t cause motor or sensory deficits, so authorities concluded they didn t do anything. For decades, these parts were called silent areas, their function elusive. We ve since learned that they underscore executive and integrative ability, without which, we would hardly be human.
另外，在很长一段时间里科学家们想不出我们脑内大量的额叶或大面积的顶叶的用途。并且因为额叶和顶叶的损伤并不会引起运动或感觉神经的缺失，所以研究人员断定他们没有任何作用。几十年来，这些部位被称为沉默区域，他们真正的作用令人难以琢磨。我们既然已经知道他们重视执行和综合能力，所以一旦失去他们，我们几乎就失去了人类的基本能力。
They are crucial to abstract reasoning, planning, weighing decisions and flexibly adapting to circumstances. The idea that 9/10 of your brain sits idly by in your skull looks silly when we calculate how the brain uses energy. Rodent and canine brains consume 5% of total body energy. Monkey brains use 10%. An adult human brain, which accounts for only 2% of the body s mass, consumes 20% of daily glucose burned. In children, that figure is 50%, and in infants, 60%.
他们对我们抽象推理的能力、规划、做决定和是否能很快的适应环境有着至关重要的作用。那个十分之九的大脑在你的脑袋里袖手旁观的理论，在我们计算大脑怎样消耗能量时显得毫无道理。啮齿动物和犬齿动物的大脑消耗身体总能量的5%。猴子使用其大脑的10%。成人的大脑，仅占全身质量的2%，每日却消耗20%的葡萄糖。而儿童消耗50%的葡萄糖，婴儿要消耗60%。
This is far more than expected for their relative brain sizes, which scale in proportion to body size. Human ones weigh 1.5 kilograms, elephant brains 5 kg, and whale brains 9 kg, yet on a per weight basis, humans pack in more neurons than any other species. This dense packing is what makes us so smart. There is a trade-off between body size and the number of neurons a primate, including us, can sustain. A 25 kg ape has to eat 8 hours a day to uphold a brain with 53 billion neurons.
这组数值远远超出了我们的预想，因为他们不同的大脑相对于整个身体的质量。人的大脑重1.5公斤，大象大脑重5公斤，鲸鱼大脑重9公斤，然而这每一公斤里面，人类的大脑比其他物种的大脑有更多的神经元。我们人类正是因为紧密排列的神经元才会如此聪明。在体重和神经元数量之间有一个平衡点，这就是灵长类动物（包括我们人类）可以承受的数量。一个25公斤重的猿每天要进食8个小时，才能使装有530亿个神经元的大脑正常运作。
