If I'm day dreaming about my plans for Valentine's Day while "listening" to a lecture, how much of my brain is being used to listen to the lecture? If I'm texting while driving, how much of my brain am I using for driving?
Joan jwarm...@oakton.edu Carol DeVolder wrote: > > > > When this Spring semester began a few weeks ago, I gave a short > pre-test to students in my 3rd-year level Brain and Behavior classes. > One question read something like, "Generally we use _____." the > answers were a. 10%, b. 20%, c. either the left half or the right half > of the brain exclusively. d. our entire brain. Sadly, in two sections > of approximately 30 students, a little over half chose an incorrect > answer. This is after three years of college, and all of these > students have had Intro Psych and I know they covered at least one > chapter on biopsych in it. I didn't look at which item they chose most > often, but I may go back and do just that. I wonder if I give it at > the end of the semester I can compare and see an "improvement" from > 10% (choice a) to 20% (choice b). Sigh...makes me want to bang my head > against the wall. > > On Sun, Feb 6, 2011 at 9:41 PM, Mike Palij <m...@nyu.edu > <mailto:m...@nyu.edu>> wrote: > > So, I'm watching the last couple of minutes of the Super Bowl (for > non-U.S. > Tipsters, it is a football [no, not soccer] game) and a commercial > for a new > movie comes on. Now, I've tried to turn off my attention when > commercials > come on but then I hear a voice over say something like "what if > you could > use more than 20% of your brain?" It is for a movie starring > Bradley Cooper > and Robert De Niro (Oh! How the mighty have fallen!) titled > "Limitless". > My first response was "well, I hope those folks would stop making > commercials > like this" but I digress. This was the first time I heard of > people only using 20% > instead of the traditional 10% (for debunking the 10% myth of > brain usage, see: > http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/tenper.html > and/or > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10%25_of_brain_myth ) > > Now I'm wondering: "Did I mis-hear the commercial? Did they really say > 20% instead of 10%?" A quick search of the InterWebs indicate that > indeed, we must be getting smarter because we are now using 20%. > Consider the following article that previews the movie "Limitless": > > http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/dec/22/limitless-trailer-bradley-cooper > > So, if drugs can make you use more of your brain, clearly drugs are a > good thing (which is an argument I imagine used by undergraduates who > use provigil and adderall to keep pepped up during the semester). In > any event, I guess we should expect students to ask about why we only > use 20% of our brains and have an answer prepared for them: > > "Only some people in Hollywood appear to use only 20% of their > brains." > > -Mike Palij > New York University > m...@nyu.edu <mailto:m...@nyu.edu> > > > > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: devoldercar...@gmail.com > <mailto:devoldercar...@gmail.com>. > To unsubscribe click here: > > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=177920.a45340211ac7929163a0216244443341&n=T&l=tips&o=8558 > > <http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=177920.a45340211ac7929163a0216244443341&n=T&l=tips&o=8558> > or send a blank email to > leave-8558-177920.a45340211ac7929163a0216244443...@fsulist.frostburg.edu > > <mailto:leave-8558-177920.a45340211ac7929163a0216244443...@fsulist.frostburg.edu> > > > > > -- > Carol DeVolder, Ph.D. > Professor and Chair, Department of Psychology > St. Ambrose University > 518 West Locust Street > Davenport, Iowa 52803 > 563-333-6482 > > This e-mail might be confidential, so please don't share it. > > > > --- > > You are currently subscribed to tips as: jwarm...@oakton.edu > <mailto:jwarm...@oakton.edu>. > > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=49240.d374d0c18780e492c3d2e63f91752d0d&n=T&l=tips&o=8560 > > <http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=49240.d374d0c18780e492c3d2e63f91752d0d&n=T&l=tips&o=8560> > > (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) > > or send a blank email to > leave-8560-49240.d374d0c18780e492c3d2e63f91752...@fsulist.frostburg.edu > <mailto:leave-8560-49240.d374d0c18780e492c3d2e63f91752...@fsulist.frostburg.edu> > --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=8579 or send a blank email to leave-8579-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
