aleng's journal

 Do We Use 10% of Our Brain??
We always heard about this myth, "We use 10% of our brain", but first of all, who even made this myth? It was believed that Harvard psychologists William James and Boris Sidis, in the 1890s, who tested the theory in the accelerated raising of child prodigy William Sidis to effect an adulthood IQ of 250–300; thus, James told audiences that people only meet a fraction of their full mental potential, which is a plausible claim. (Wikipedia)

10%?

In the 1970s, psychologist and educator Georgi Lozanov, proposed the teaching method of suggestopedia believing "that we might be using only five to ten percent of our mental capacity." (Wikipedia)
 Apparently, this myth has brought many confusion to humankind, even Albert Einstein. It was believed that if we, human, were able to access into 100% of our brain, we will be able to do supernatural stuffs, like floating, seeing the future, or such. If that was true, then we would need to undergo some serious religious stuffs to be able to use 100% of our brain, because as far as I can see, Jesus, Buddha, and many religious figures were able to do such stuffs, which leads us back to the main topic. Did they access through all 100% of their brain?

Someone using 100% brain??

Well, honestly, if one tenth of our brain was used, then how come a simple knock over could lead to temporary (or worse, permanent) memory loss? Not to mention, if we used such little amount of our brain, then brain surgery wouldn't be much of a problem for human kind. Instead, we would actually get some DNA from Einstein's brain and start selling it out for the good of human kind.

Another thing is, how come we have so much subdivisions in our brain if we only use a tenth of it? How were we able to speak, move, look, listen, breathe, think, and feel at the same time? This might prove that we actually use 100% of our brain, I mean, imagine if we have to do every simple things one at a time, like; blink, then inhale, then look, then talk, then think for a few minutes, and the moment you knew what to say you probably have forgotten to exhale out. If this was to happen, it would be very disadvantageous to us human.
My last opinion is, if only a tenth of our brain is used, scientists wouldn't mind taking one human sample, insert a microchip thing to look at what the inside of the brain looks like without having the sample suffering from future problems. Not to mention, if a tenth was used, Alzheimer's disease wouldn't be an actual disease, but rather viewed as an elderly person trying to get some attention by doing weird stuffs.
A study has also proven that no matter how relaxed you are, your brain is still active. Sometimes, even some parts of the brain are much more active during rest, like the parasympathetic nervous system (a.k.a resting nervous system) which speeds up the digestion, slows the heart rate - resulting in a calm resting condition. It might be surprising (for those who didn't knew) that our brain requires a huge amount of energy, sugar, water, salt, and oxygen, as much as 20% of, separately, energy and oxygen, although it's only around 2% of our body weight. This might sound like a "waste" of energy, but truth be told, it's actually what's been keeping you alive till now. Another fun fact is,

Did you know your brain loves junk food?

OK, a simple question, would you prefer boiled carrots or crispy french fries. Be truthful, I'm very sure most will choose french fries. Why would we choose french fries over boiled carrots, we do know they're healthier. Reason is, your brain needs a LOT of energy and calories (like previously mentioned), so it's apparently more attracted to foods with high calories and energy. So for those who are trying to get a diet, try to control yourselves from eating "french fries" and start eating more "boiled carrots". Your body will thank you for doing so, although your brain won't be as happy as they are.

Did I forgot to mention anything in the blog? Share it via the comments!! 

Water

Music, an art form whose mediums are sound, silence, and other common elements, such as; pitches, rhythms, and dunamics. There is no certain origin of music, but one thing's for sure is that music affects our education and our learning ability. How?

According to a study conducted by the University of California at Irvine, pre-school age kids who received daily music lessons (either playing instrument or just singing) were significantly better at completing puzzles than those who didn't. Although this one study doesn't show much proofs, it has been proven that music does affect learning abilities, one of it is abstract learning. 


Abstract learning is the most complex type of learning, known as the ability to solve problems or figure something out by coming to a logical conclusion based on observation.

To put it in simpler terms, you make a few tests to prove something that you think is actually true after going through some observations. This is also known as abstract reasoning, which means, music enhances our ability to learn about the world and other stuffs by;

• Forming a theory about the nature of ideas
• Solving problems using such theories
• Analyzing and evaluating ideas and objects
• Solving problems using abstract methods, such as the usage of metaphors and analogies.

Learning music also creates, what neuroscientists call "neural pathways" which acts as our brain's highway used to retrieved information. Hence, leading to better learning abilities.

Another study at the University of Wales shows that background music affects student's ability to recall, in other words, improves memory. There were 5 conditions during the test

1. A quiet environment
2. With "steady state" speech, which means a single word was repeated for the duration of the test
3. With "changing state" speech. This means variety of words were played during the test
4. With "liked" music
5. With "disliked" music

Surprisingly, the results shows no difference between test score with liked music, disliked music, and changing state speech. This means, whether they liked the music or not, having it on while working was just as distracting as hearing someone talk, while the quiet and steady state speech condition scored higher.

It's just the same as the condition in where you are trying to do your homeworks while your friends are chatting with you, but unfortunately, it depends on the person. Some may find listening to music distracting, some may not, and some may find it undistracting at all.

We'll need to wait for more results, but if you're asking me what type of music that might improve learning ability, my suggestions are some calm music, just to lighten your stressed brain, such as; jazz, classical music, bluegrass, or some soft rock. Avoid music with lyrics, as lyrics will distract you from concentrating (I've tried it before).


Source:
http://www.mindthesciencegap.org/2012/10/08/does-music-help-you-study/
http://www.quantumjumping.com/articles/subconscious/how-music-affects-the-brain-enhance-learning-attitude-and-health/