FACT CHECK #PTHZGSJ_

EXHIBIT A

What you submitted

WHAT WE FOUND

The claim is false. Snopes rates it False 1. The MIT McGovern Institute calls it "100 percent a myth" and states that scientists believe we use our entire brain every day 2. Educational neuroscience sources note that we use essentially all of our brains all the time, though not all neurons fire simultaneously, and that functional imaging shows this 8. ABC Fact Check found that none of the experts consulted supported the notion 11. NBC News quotes a neuroscientist saying that if we used only 10 percent of our brains we would be close to dead 12. Medical News Today and the Association for Psychological Science also describe it as a myth with unclear origins, possibly a misreading of William James 79. The Harvard Health excerpt only reports the belief that people use 10%, and its fuller text notes that activity varies by region, so it does not support the claim 3. The Bristol, BBC and Wikipedia sources are consistent with this conclusion 456. The high-credibility sources agree, and the claim directly contradicts established neuroscience.

SOURCES

1. 1 · snopes.comFACT-CHECKER
   Do We Only Use 10% of our Brains?

   TIER A

2. 2 · mcgovern.mit.eduACADEMIC
   Do we only use 10 percent of our brain?

   TIER A

3. 3 · health.harvard.eduACADEMIC
   You don't say? Brain space

   TIER A

4. 4 · schoolofeducation.blogs.bristol…ACADEMIC
   No, we don't use only 10% of our brains!

   TIER A

5. 5 · bbc.comNEWS
   Do we only use 10% of our brains?

   TIER A

6. 6 · en.wikipedia.orgWEB
   Ten-percent-of-the-brain myth

   TIER B

7. 7 · psychologicalscience.orgWEB
   Myth: We Only Use 10% of Our Brains

   TIER B

8. 8 · educationalneuroscience.org.ukWEB
   We only use 10% of our brains

   TIER B

9. 9 · medicalnewstoday.comWEB
   What percentage of our brain do we use?

   TIER B

10. 10 · uamshealth.comWEB
    Do People Only Use 10 Percent of our Brains?

    TIER B

11. 11 · abc.net.auWEB
    Fact or fiction: We only use 10 per cent of our brain

    TIER B

12. 12 · nbcnews.comWEB
    Myth, busted: You only use 10 percent of brain

    TIER B

THE READING