When the movie Lucy was released in the summer of 2014, it was quickly followed by a flurry of attention surrounding the idea that we only use 10% of our brains. Unfortunately, it is an idea that has at this point been thoroughly debunked. In truth, it appears that all of our brain is active fairly constantly.
In fact, a recent survey of educators in five different countries–the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Turkey, Greece, and China–found that the percentage of teachers who believe in the 10% of the brain myth ranges from a low of 43% in Greece to a high of 59% in China.
The same survey identified a number of other inaccurate beliefs about the brain held by educators–beliefs that have come to be categorized as neuromyths.
Neuromyths are not generally created nor spread with malicious intent. Although there may be instances where inaccurate neuroscience information is used by entrepreneurs hoping to convince the public of the viability of a dubious product, usually neuromyths arise out of some genuine scientific confusion.
One example of a (relatively) recently espoused neuromyth is sometimes referred to as the “myth of three.” The underlying idea of the myth of three is that there is a critical period between birth and three years of age, during which most of the major events of early brain development occur.
Read full, original article: Neuromyths and the disconnect between science and the public
