The brain is one of the most
amazing organs in the human body. It controls our central nervous system,
keeping us walking, talking, breathing, and thinking. The brain is also
incredibly complex comprising around 100 billion neurons. There's so much going
on with the brain that there are several different fields of medicine and
science devoted to treating and studying it, including neurology, which treats
physical disorders of the brain; psychology, which includes the study of
behavior and mental processes; and psychiatry, which treats mental illnesses
and disorders.
These disciplines have been around in some form since ancient times, so you'd think that by now we'd know all there is to know about the brain. Nothing could be further from the truth. After thousands of years of studying and treating every aspect of it, there are still many facets of the brain that remain mysterious. Neuromyths are the common misconceptions about how the brain functions. Below are popular myths about the brain, and their truths:
A common
sign of dyslexia is seeing letters backward-People with dyslexia have a specific difficulty with
decoding written words. For most individuals with dyslexia, this difficulty
relates to the mapping of sounds to letters, rather than the visual appearance
of words. Although some individuals with dyslexia may reverse letters when
reading and spelling, it is not a very common occurrence and many
individuals with dyslexia do not make such reversals.
Computer games keep your brain fit-Playing
brain-enhancing games on the computer and doing crossword puzzles and Sudoku
puzzles are often touted as the equivalent of physical exercise for your brain.
Researchers found that while you
might get better at specific games or puzzles with practice, there’s no
evidence that you’ll improve your general cognitive skills, such as your
memory, attention span, use of language or ability to follow directions.
Although it’s healthy to engage in creative thinking to stay sharp and to keep
your mind agile, brain-training exercises aren’t likely to help you improve
your overall memory or your attention span.
Every brain is either dominated by the left or
right side-Touch
your nose with your right hand. Now touch your nose with your left hand. Could
you not do one? I bet you could do both. A number of popular internet tests
claim that they can determine if the left or right side of your brain is
dominant. People described as left-brain thinkers are told that they
have strong math and logic skills. Those who are described as right-brain
thinkers, on the other hand, are told that their talents are more on the
creative side of things. Beware, these tests often have no scientific basis
whatsoever. Although some studies say that certain parts of the brain dominate certain activities, an overall general
assumption about hemisphere dominance is extremely difficult to make and should
not be trusted.
Getting hit on the head
causes severe amnesia-You’ve seen this in countless movies, books,
and even cartoons: Someone gets banged on the head and loses their memory,
setting the narrative in motion. In reality, concussions are the most common
outcome from hurting your head in an accident or from a sports injury. Although
a concussion often causes confusion and can impact the ability to remember new
information initially for a few days or weeks, it’s not associated with severe
amnesia. Amnesia is typically caused by a stroke, a seizure, or brain
inflammation, but remains a rare condition.
There are typical male and female brains-We often hear that
men are better at math, and women have stronger social skills because of the
way that our brains are hardwired. These are simply gender stereotypes, and a
number of studies show that when you take away cultural priming (telling your daughter
that boys are better at math) no gender difference can be observed in
standardized testing. The key take-home message here is tell your daughters
that they can be a world class engineer, that their algebra is just as good as
males, and they will not believe that they are inferior to males in math or
analytical thinking. This myth only exists because we have internalized the
stereotypes of supposedly male and female differences.
We only use 10% of our brains-Despite this common
assumption; we actually use all of our brain. Part of the reason why this is so
widely believed stems from Magnetic
Resonance Imagings (MRIs),
as their imaging shows that at any one time only a small part of our brain is
active. This does not mean that we only use a small part of our brain.
Different parts are active at different times. If we used all of our brain at
once, it would consume more energy than we have available in our body, as our
brain - even though it only makes up 2% of our body mass - already uses 20% of
our energy. This way, our brain saves energy by only using the part it needs.
For example, when you are reading a book, different parts of your brain are
activated compared to when you are eating. Our brains use the energy they are
provided efficiently conserving energy for the next task.
“Your brain -
every brain - is a work in progress. It is 'plastic.' From the day we're born
to the day we die, it continuously revises and remodels, improving or slowly
declining, as a function of how we use it.” (Michael Merzenich) [i]
[i] Sources used:
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