IUBio

Comparing animal's and human brians

Richard Hall rhall at uvi.edu
Tue May 25 05:14:22 EST 1999


Do you suppose that the individuals who believe we only use a fraction of
our brain capacity are related to those who believe earth has plenty of
room for more people?

rlh

At 2:35 AM -0700 5/25/99, Stephan Anagnostaras wrote:
>In article <3771E137.DDE209DC at phys.chem.msu.ru>, TIY at phys.chem.msu.ru
>(Ivan Torshin) wrote:
>
>> F. Frank LeFever wrote:
>> >
>> > In <7i42bi$sij$1 at news5.svr.pol.co.uk> "Simon Marsh"
>> > <simonmarsh at tardis99.freeserve.co.uk> writes:
>> > >
>> > >As humans only use 1/100 of 1 percent (.0001) of out potential brain
>> > >capacity how does this compare to other animals?
>> > >
>> > >
>
>Humans do not use 1/1000 of 1 percent of their "brain potential" nor is
>the commonly quoted 10% based on any relevant facts, it is some number
>cooked up by engineers or metabolic biologists who do not vaguely
>understand how the brain works.
>
>The typical computation is metabolic, e.g., the brain is using 10% of its
>metabolic capacity, so in theory (only a moron would have this theory
>however) you could crank the metabolic capacity up to 100% and be smarter.
>Of course, the only time this actually happens is during a grand mal
>seizure (even then it is nowhere near 100%) or during poisoning by domoic
>acid or NMDA (maybe then you could drive it up to 100% if you ate about
>200 bad oysters).  So the idea is stupid, it's like saying, if I was
>driving a car capable of 200 mph and I was driving it at 20 mph I am only
>using 10% of the car's engine. In fact, all of the cars systems are fully
>engaged when driving at 20 mph.
>
>Likewise, the assumption is also based on the idea that any part of the
>brain can do anything, which isn't true at all, the brain is broken into
>many subsystems which are specialized for certain functions. For example,
>something like half of the cortex is dedicated to processing vision.  And
>a large component (the bulk of the frontal lobe) to movement. And 90% of
>the rest to other sensory functions. Subcortical mechanisms are even more
>specialized, but, for example, if you are not puking you are not using the
>puke center of your brain.  But using it would not make you any smarter.
>Just like turning on your stereo in your car does not make it go faster.
>The stereo is a specialized subsystem that only has to do with generating
>music, likewise, the brain has many specialized systems which would not be
>engaged unless they are required.
>
> So if you are just walking around, talking, and looking at something at
>the same time you are using arguably the bulk of the brain's capacity.
>And these functions are not trivial. For example, it is not possible even
>with the most sophisticated computers to identify and track a single
>object as accurately and easily as your visual system does.
>
>So with respect to other animals, they also use all of their brain.
>
>Stephan

Richard Hall, Associate Professor of
Comparative Animal Physiology
Division of Sciences and Mathematics
University of the Virgin Islands
St. Thomas, USVI  00802

340-693-1386
rhall at uvi.edu



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