We were talking today about working memory and the limited capacity... and the same question as in previous semesters came very quick: "Can we increase our working memory capacity? Is it true that we use only 10% of our memory?"
A very nice explanation is given on PsyBlog.
The error might have come when researchers stated that at a specific point in time we use approximately 10% of our brain. But that does not mean that in general we use only 10% of our capacity. For example when you think about your past summer vacation trip (episodic memory) brain activity will be observed in your temporal lobe. And what we learned in the first week, perceptual processing ( and I mean here our visual perception) takes place mostly in the occipital lobe (back part of your brain). But at different times depending on the task our brain must perform, different parts of the brain are more activated than other parts. But remember that neurons in the brain are linked and react and transmit the information from one to other.
fMRI research shows that we use our brain and that there is activity in ALL parts of our brain.
The 10% use is just a myth.
What we also know is that those neurons (there are around 100 billion neurons) that are not used will slowly die, and we lose thousands of them every day (some tens of millions in a lifetime).
So, don't be so concerned that you use only 10% (since it is not even true), but better use your brain at full capacity.
One way to do it is by learning permanently new things :-)
......such as Cognition!
Also remember Allan Bddeley's model and see that when we process information there are different things going on in the same time and in different parts of our brain. If you just hear a sound most likely the phonological loop, episodic buffer, and your temporal lobes in the brain will be activated, but the WM Central executive will make a decision about what useful previously stored information (in the LTM) would help you make sense of that sound (is that your child crying, or a dog yelping, or a sound that you cannot make sense of it, and you must see -- visuospatial sketchpad).
