{"id":60111,"date":"2021-11-03T15:48:54","date_gmt":"2021-11-03T19:48:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=60111"},"modified":"2021-11-03T15:48:54","modified_gmt":"2021-11-03T19:48:54","slug":"our-brain-doesnt-think-and-yours-either","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/our-brain-doesnt-think-and-yours-either\/","title":{"rendered":"Our brain doesn’t think (and yours, either)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\n“Human beings only use 10% of our brain.”\u00a0“The brain of adults does not change.”\u00a0“The reptilian brain is the one that governs the behavior of children.”\u00a0“A person is more intelligent the more neurons he has.”\u00a0Who among us has not ever heard these statements?\u00a0And yet they are false.<\/span><\/p>\n

These are misinterpretations about the brain (”\u00a0<\/span>neuromyths<\/span><\/a>\u00a0“) that often\u00a0permeate<\/a>\u00a0the population through certain forms of scientific dissemination.\u00a0They also even reach the field of education.\u00a0This is demonstrated by\u00a0<\/span>a study<\/span><\/a>\u00a0published in 2014, in which it was found that teachers from various countries, both Western and Eastern, tended to believe in these kinds of statements.<\/span><\/p>\n

The spread of these misconceptions is not banal, but can lead to unscientific and harmful educational strategies.\u00a0For example, the excessive enrichment of the children’s environment and the obsession to teach them the more things the better before the age of six.<\/span><\/p>\n

Confusing the part with the whole<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Another error that occurs frequently in the communication of neuroscience consists in perpetuating the so-called \u201c\u00a0<\/span>mereological fallacy<\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u201d: assigning to the part (the brain) psychological attributes that, in reality, belong to the whole (the human being as a whole).<\/span><\/p>\n

Through a quick search on the internet we can come across expressions such as ”\u00a0<\/span>the brain thinks<\/span><\/a>\u00a0“, ”\u00a0<\/span>the brain remembers<\/span><\/a>\u00a0“, ”\u00a0<\/span>your brain sees<\/span><\/a>\u00a0“, or even ”\u00a0<\/span>your brain hates<\/span><\/a>\u00a0“.<\/span><\/p>\n

These types of expressions are not only used by scientific popularizers, but also in areas such as teaching and even professional science.\u00a0One of the objectives pursued by the Australian brain research initiative (\u00a0<\/span>Australian Brain Initiative<\/span><\/em>\u00a0)\u00a0serves as an example of the latter\u00a0, which\u00a0<\/span>its promoters propose<\/span><\/a>\u00a0as “understanding and optimizing how the brain learns in childhood.”<\/span><\/p>\n

This mereological fallacy constitutes the conceptual basis of what\u00a0<\/span>the philosopher Carlos Moya<\/span><\/a>\u00a0describes as a new (and paradoxical) \u201cmaterialistic dualism\u201d.\u00a0Once the dualistic conception of soul-body has been overcome (in the Cartesian way), we now tend to think of a brain that is independent or isolated from the body.\u00a0The latter seems, in a way, expendable.\u00a0This does not conform to reality: the brain is only one part of the nervous system, which in turn is only one part of the body.\u00a0This body, moreover, is framed in a social context (it is not a \u201c\u00a0<\/span>brain in a bucket<\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u201d) that decisively affects the development and life history of the individual.<\/span><\/p>\n

Neither the feet walk, nor the brain thinks<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The reader will agree that your feet do not walk, but you are the one who walks using your feet.\u00a0Similarly, it is not your brain that thinks, remembers, hates or loves, but you are the one who does all this using your brain.<\/span><\/p>\n

It might be thought that the comparison between brain and feet is not adequate, since the brain, unlike the former, has a great capacity for control over the other parts of the body.\u00a0However, it should not be forgotten that the brain depends, in turn, on other organs for its subsistence and functioning, especially (but not only)\u00a0<\/span>the heart<\/span><\/a>\u00a0.<\/span><\/p>\n

In no way is the brain independent and the governor of the rest of the body, as shown by the dynamics of its development: it is not until the twenty-third week of prenatal life that the first synapses appear in the human embryo, and it is not until after twenty years of age. the brain finishes developing completely.\u00a0In fact, the brain continues to change until the day we die.\u00a0Simply put, without a body there can be no brain, both functionally and chronologically.<\/span><\/p>\n

To some extent, it is understandable that scientists or disseminators trained in neuroscience tend to transmit, consciously or unconsciously, the mereological fallacy.\u00a0After all, your specialized knowledge can lead to overemphasizing the importance of a part of reality.<\/span><\/p>\n

For this reason, and just as the fact that a \u201cscience of the part\u201d, such as neuroscience, decisively permeates the understanding of the social sciences and humanities that study the human being as a whole, has been normalized, it should also be normalized the complementary path: that these “sciences of the whole” contribute to a more complete (and realistic) understanding of the nervous system.<\/p>\n

To achieve this, neuroscience should be more receptive to study and genuine dialogue with other disciplines (psychology, education, communication, law, philosophy).\u00a0Interdisciplinary collaboration could, thus, contribute to curbing the proliferation of neuromyths and reductionist views of the human that even hinder the advancement of neuroscience itself.\u00a0Methodological rigor should not be associated with a lack of argumentative rigor.\u00a0Communicating the brain, after all, does not imply limiting yourself to the brain.<\/span><\/p>\n

Author Bios:<\/strong> Jose Manuel Mu\u00f1oz is a Researcher at the International Center for Neuroscience and Ethics (CINET) of the Tatiana P\u00e9rez de Guzm\u00e1n el Bueno Foundation, and at the Mind-Brain Group, Culture and Society Institute (ICS) and Javier Bern\u00e1cer is a Researcher at the Mind-Brain Group, Culture and Society Institute (ICS) both at the University of Navarra<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Human beings only use 10% of our brain.”\u00a0“The brain of adults does not change.”\u00a0“The reptilian brain is the one that governs the behavior of children.”\u00a0“A person is more intelligent the more neurons he has.”\u00a0Who among us has not ever heard these statements?\u00a0And yet they are false. These are misinterpretations about the brain (”\u00a0neuromyths\u00a0“) that often\u00a0permeate\u00a0the […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[422059],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-60111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science-tech","tag-scientific-dissemination"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nOur brain doesn't think (and yours, either) - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/our-brain-doesnt-think-and-yours-either\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Our brain doesn't think (and yours, either) - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"“Human beings only use 10% of our brain.”\u00a0“The brain of adults does not change.”\u00a0“The reptilian brain is the one that governs the behavior of children.”\u00a0“A person is more intelligent the more neurons he has.”\u00a0Who among us has not ever heard these statements?\u00a0And yet they are false. These are misinterpretations about the brain (”\u00a0neuromyths\u00a0“) that often\u00a0permeate\u00a0the […]\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/our-brain-doesnt-think-and-yours-either\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-03T19:48:54+00:00\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Teenage-brain.jpg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/our-brain-doesnt-think-and-yours-either\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/our-brain-doesnt-think-and-yours-either\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"headline\":\"Our brain doesn’t think (and yours, either)\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-03T19:48:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/our-brain-doesnt-think-and-yours-either\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":824,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/our-brain-doesnt-think-and-yours-either\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/Teenage-brain.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"scientific dissemination\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Science and Technology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/our-brain-doesnt-think-and-yours-either\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/our-brain-doesnt-think-and-yours-either\\\/\",\"name\":\"Our brain doesn't think (and yours, either) - World leading higher education information and services\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/our-brain-doesnt-think-and-yours-either\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/our-brain-doesnt-think-and-yours-either\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/Teenage-brain.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-03T19:48:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/our-brain-doesnt-think-and-yours-either\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/our-brain-doesnt-think-and-yours-either\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/our-brain-doesnt-think-and-yours-either\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/Teenage-brain.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/Teenage-brain.jpg\",\"width\":680,\"height\":383},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/our-brain-doesnt-think-and-yours-either\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Our brain doesn’t think (and yours, either)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\",\"name\":\"World leading higher education information and services\",\"description\":\"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\",\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kevin\"},\"description\":\"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/author\\\/kevin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Our brain doesn't think (and yours, either) - World leading higher education information and services","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/world.edu\/our-brain-doesnt-think-and-yours-either\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Our brain doesn't think (and yours, either) - World leading higher education information and services","og_description":"“Human beings only use 10% of our brain.”\u00a0“The brain of adults does not change.”\u00a0“The reptilian brain is the one that governs the behavior of children.”\u00a0“A person is more intelligent the more neurons he has.”\u00a0Who among us has not ever heard these statements?\u00a0And yet they are false. These are misinterpretations about the brain (”\u00a0neuromyths\u00a0“) that often\u00a0permeate\u00a0the […]","og_url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/our-brain-doesnt-think-and-yours-either\/","og_site_name":"World leading higher education information and services","article_published_time":"2021-11-03T19:48:54+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Teenage-brain.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Kevin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kevin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/our-brain-doesnt-think-and-yours-either\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/our-brain-doesnt-think-and-yours-either\/"},"author":{"name":"Kevin","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"headline":"Our brain doesn’t think (and yours, either)","datePublished":"2021-11-03T19:48:54+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/our-brain-doesnt-think-and-yours-either\/"},"wordCount":824,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/our-brain-doesnt-think-and-yours-either\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Teenage-brain.jpg","keywords":["scientific dissemination"],"articleSection":["Science and Technology"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/our-brain-doesnt-think-and-yours-either\/","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/our-brain-doesnt-think-and-yours-either\/","name":"Our brain doesn't think (and yours, either) - World leading higher education information and services","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/our-brain-doesnt-think-and-yours-either\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/our-brain-doesnt-think-and-yours-either\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Teenage-brain.jpg","datePublished":"2021-11-03T19:48:54+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/our-brain-doesnt-think-and-yours-either\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/world.edu\/our-brain-doesnt-think-and-yours-either\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/our-brain-doesnt-think-and-yours-either\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Teenage-brain.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Teenage-brain.jpg","width":680,"height":383},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/our-brain-doesnt-think-and-yours-either\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/world.edu\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Our brain doesn’t think (and yours, either)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/","name":"World leading higher education information and services","description":"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee","name":"Kevin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kevin"},"description":"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.","sameAs":["https:\/\/world.edu"],"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/author\/kevin\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60111"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60113,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60111\/revisions\/60113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60111"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=60111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}