You may have heard the myth that humans use only 10% of their brains. That statement is patently untrue — most people use all of their brains, all of the time. But for people who have survived a stroke, traumatic brain injuries or brain resectioning surgeries, things do get less clear. In fact, many of these cases suggest that a person actually doesn’t need 100% of their brain to live, or even to function normally.
So how much of your brain do you really need to survive?
Neuroscientists are still investigating this question, and there likely isn’t a black-and-white answer. How well a person fares after experiencing brain damage — or when they’re missing a part of their brain altogether — can depend on a multitude of factors, such as the region of the brain that was affected, how and why the brain region was affected, and how old they were when they experienced the brain damage. But just how much of your brain you can live without and function normally may surprise you.
“Writer Fuel” is a series of cool real-world stories that might inspire your little writer heart. Check out our Writer Fuel page on the LimFic blog for more inspiration.
