All of it. It's your attention that is divided, not your brain. :) Oh, wait--if you're texting while driving you aren't using any of it. c
On Mon, Feb 7, 2011 at 2:32 PM, Joan Warmbold <[email protected]> wrote: > > > 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 > [email protected] > > 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 <[email protected]> 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 >> [email protected] >> >> >> >> >> --- >> You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. >> To unsubscribe click here: >> 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 >> > > > > -- > 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: [email protected]. > > To unsubscribe click here: > 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 > > > --- > > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. > > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=177920.a45340211ac7929163a0216244443341&n=T&l=tips&o=8579 > > (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) > > or send a blank email to > leave-8579-177920.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: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=8580 or send a blank email to leave-8580-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
