Is it true that we do not use all of our brain power? If so what
percent? Please support your answer with a link to some scholary
journal or expert reference.

Tip for this question will be $7.50

Hello top19-ga,

A great article on this topic (and I recommend you read it entirely)
can be found here: http://www.sciam.com/askexpert_question.cfm?articleID=000B077E-AD46-1047-AD4683414B7F0000

The article challenges the idea that we only use about 10% of our
brain, a common myth. The relevant excerpt is: "First of all, it is
obvious that the brain, like all our other organs, has been shaped by
natural selection. Brain tissue is metabolically expensive both to
grow and to run, and it strains credulity to think that evolution
would have permitted squandering of resources on a scale necessary to
build and maintain such a massively underutilized organ. Moreover,
doubts are fuelled by ample evidence from clinical neurology. Losing
far less than 90 percent of the brain to accident or disease has
catastrophic consequences." Source:
http://www.sciam.com/askexpert_question.cfm?articleID=000B077E-AD46-1047-AD4683414B7F0000

The very last sentence answers the question for us. Even a tiny
fraction of brain loss results in problems, which suggests all of the
brain area is important and vital. In addition the various parts of
our brain have been mapped as being related to specific functions
(some to do with memory, some with deeper thinking etc.)

Some other good website I ran into when doing my research:
http://home.ix.netcom.com/~suzumi/badmedicine_ch1.pdf
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=2109291&page=1

A Q/A that determines we use 100% of our brain can be found here:
http://www.infoplease.com/askeds/brain-usage-myth.html

I hope that this satisfactorily answers your question. Please let me
know if you require further clarification or assistance. All the best,

tisme-ga


Search Strategy:

use "percent of our brain"
"what percentage of our brain do we use"

Answered question perfectly.

Coming up with an exact percentage may be difficult.

You might find some of the links in this answer to be of interest:

http://www.answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=179060

Tisme brought up a great point that natural selection (or God through
creation... depending how you choose to see human origins) would not
allow for such great waste.
I think the statistic of 10% comes from what certain scientists
believed of brain use for actual thoughts.  To come up with a thought,
there is a good chance that most of the brain is not directly used in
that process... but perhaps the parts that are used could not function
properly with the parts that aren't used.

I like Jack's interpretation.  Perhaps only 10% of the brain can be
consciously used:  analysing, conscious efforts of recollection, but
the other 90% are ticking over with data storage, physical dexterity,
etc., etc.

I believe that the often quoted ten percent does not represent a
physical amount of the brain, which would mean that although the
Scientific United Statesian article is accurate it does not tackle
what 10% stands for. Nor the percentage/amount of the brain that is
used/devoted to concious thought. The 10 percent figure refers to the
brain's POTENTIAL.

The average person has a potential to utilize his brain at what most
people would consider 'genius' level, however for practical reasons
this person spends his/her day cleaning bathtubs, selling hamburgers
or doing repetitive tasks that require little if any brain power. If
these same people were to use their brain to their full potential they
would be educated and know how to think (most people don't know how to
think and/or rationalize logically), then, they would be using their
brain to it's full capacity.

The reference is (as I understand it) to the brains potential vs actual use.