You only use 10% of your brain
It turns up in films, adverts and self-help books: nine-tenths of your brain sits idle, waiting to be unlocked. Is most of your brain really going unused?
Myth or fact? Reveal
Myth. Scans show activity across virtually the whole brain over the course of a day, and much of it stays busy during sleep. Damage to almost any region costs some ability, which could not happen if 90% were spare. Neuroscientist Barry Beyerstein set out the evidence against the claim in 1999.