How much of our brain are we using?

Hi Pirate.  Human beings use approximately ten percent of our brain capacity.

That is a common misconception. How much we use depends on what we are doing.

Good question!! It probably depends on your job skills which require alot brain thought. Like a doctor, lawyer.  I work at the hospital and my job requires alot of brain skills.

The old adage about us only using 10% of our brains was based on faulty information.  We use all of our brain; just not all at the same time.  Different functions are performed in separate sections of the brain.

The reason some people are smarter than others is their brains function with greater efficiency.  It is speculated that smarter people were more mentally stimulated during their developmental stages.  This is why some parents begin educating their children while they are still infants. 

I think the consensus is that most of us use %10 or less, and that Einstein and his ilk probably use about %17...but recent findings about "brain plasticity" show why that may be so...it would seem at first that "the balance" is wasted, but it seems to me it's there as a sort of "back up" when areas of the brain are damaged, and other areas are called on to compensate...when I lost so much of my "short-term" memory, as it is commonly called (though it's actually "working memory" which we maintain until it goes into long-term memory..strictly speakiing, "short term memory" lasts a matter of a few seconds or the time it takes the brain to process stimuli). But I will "revisit" this question after a little research to refresh my memory!