WS MoreOrLess: Do We Use Only 10% of Our Brains?

Summary

More or Less – “Do We Use Only 10% of Our Brains?”

Host: Tim Harford (BBC Radio 4)
Episode Date: September 1, 2014
Episode Summary:
This episode of “More or Less” critically examines the pervasive myth that humans use only 10% of their brains, prompted by the release of the Scarlett Johansson film "Lucy". The show also explores how footballer transfer values are determined, using actual transfer data and insight from experts.

---

Main Theme

Debunking Popular Myths and Explaining Numbers Behind Headlines

1. The 10% Brain Myth

Origins and Scientific Reality

• Prompt for Discussion:

  • The release of the film “Lucy”, where a character unlocks the “unused” 90% of her brain, brings the old myth into the spotlight.
  • [00:38] “Lucy is the first human being to unlock more than 10% of her brain.”

• Expert Input:

  • Professor Sophie Scott, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, joins to explain the truth.

Key Discussion Points

• Is the 10% Claim True?

  • Professor Sophie Scott:
    • "Well, the simple answer is no." [00:58]
    • The brain is extremely active; it's metabolically “phenomenally expensive,” representing only 1% of body weight but using 20% of the blood's oxygen. [01:06]
    • Most of the brain is working “most of the time” for postural control, movement, perception, conscious thought, and unconscious activity. [01:47]

• Wastefulness of the Myth:

  • Tim Harford:
    • “It would be wasteful to have it just ticking over and not using 90% of the capacity.” [01:42]
  • Prof. Scott agrees it would be highly inefficient from an evolutionary perspective.

• Origin of the 10% Myth:

  • Prof. Scott:
    • “It actually comes from a self help book from nearly 100 years ago.” [02:34]
      • The claim was motivational in origin, suggesting that we all have untapped potential.
    • “Now it is absolutely true… we are phenomenal at learning skills and even the conversation we’re having now is changing our brains.” [02:44]
    • But this doesn’t mean the rest of the brain isn't already working. [03:03]

• Belief in the Myth:

  • Widely endemic, frequent in popular culture and reinforced by authoritative figures in media like Morgan Freeman’s character in “Lucy”.
    • Harford jokingly: "Now we have Morgan Freeman as a neuroscientist saying it. I think that's going to give it at least another 50 years of life. He's a very authoritative man, isn't he?" [03:24]

Memorable Quotes

• Prof. Scott: “Pretty much a lot of your brain, or most of your brain is doing something most of the time.” [01:06]
• Prof. Scott (on learning): “Everything we learn to do changes [our brains].” [02:44]
• Tim Harford (humor): “I'm getting smarter. I'm not sure you are, but fine.” [03:00]

---

2. Football Transfer Fees: The Numbers Behind the Headlines

How Are Football Transfers Valued?

• Introduction of the Football Segment:

  • With the transfer window open, football transfer fees draw attention for their astronomical sums and media speculation. [04:05]

• Expert Analysis with Dr. Raffaelli Poli:

  • Co-founder of the CIES Football Observatory, which uses statistical models to predict player value in top European leagues.

  • Variables considered:

    • Player’s age
    • Contract length remaining
    • Position, league, team
    • Matches played, goals, assists, tackles
    • Number and level of international games [04:23]

Discussion of Specific Transfers

• Angel Di Maria (Manchester United):

  • Sold for a British record £59.7m (€75M).
  • Dr. Poli: “I don't think so... This is double the value that we estimated according to our model.” [05:38–05:52]
  • Model’s value: £36m; Man Utd paid £59.7m.

• Manchester United’s Transfer Spending:

  • Ander Herrera: worth £16m, reportedly paid £29m.
  • Luke Shaw: worth £26m, reportedly paid £31m.
  • Overpayments total £42m, not including all transfers. [05:52–07:04]

• Mario Balotelli (Liverpool):

  • Paid £16m, model value £28m.
    • Football agent Seb Ewan: Because of Balotelli’s off-pitch reputation and being “not necessarily easily manageable,” Liverpool got him at a bargain price but still sees him as a calculated risk. [07:15–07:41]
    • Dr. Poli: “He was underpaid because of non sporting related issues... But sportingly it's a good price.” [07:50]

Limits of Statistical Models

• Dr. Poli: Model explains about 80% of transfer fee variability; remaining 20% comes from “intangibles” and negotiation. [08:12]
• Football agent Seb Ewan: “There are many things that you can't account for and because of that reason alone I think it's impossible... statistics... will always give you a very, very good indication but in many cases they can be very, very wide from the reality of it.” [08:39]

---

Notable Quotes

• “Pretty much a lot of your brain, or most of your brain is doing something most of the time.”
  — Prof. Sophie Scott [01:06]

• “Everything we learn to do changes [our brains].”
  — Prof. Sophie Scott [02:44]

• “Now we have Morgan Freeman as a neuroscientist saying it. I think that's going to give it at least another 50 years of life.”
  — Tim Harford [03:24]

• “He was underpaid because of non sporting related issues... But sportingly it’s a good price.”
  — Dr. Raffaelli Poli, on Mario Balotelli [07:50]

• “There are many things that you can’t account for... I think statistics will always give you a very, very good indication but in many cases they can be very, very wide from the reality of it.”
  — Seb Ewan [08:39]

---

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [00:38]: Setup: The “10% brain” myth cited in “Lucy”
• [01:00]: Prof. Sophie Scott debunks the 10% claim
• [01:47]: Biological and functional realities of brain usage
• [02:34]: Historical origin of the 10% myth
• [03:24]: The power of pop culture in myth perpetuation
• [04:23]: Introduction to football transfer fee analysis
• [05:38]: Dr. Poli evaluates Angel Di Maria’s transfer
• [07:15]: Football agent Seb Ewan on Mario Balotelli assessment
• [08:12]: Limitations of statistical models in transfer fees
• [08:39]: The messy business of football transfers

---

Tone and Style

The episode maintains a light, conversational, and humorous tone, even while explaining complex topics. Experts offer accessible explanations and the host adds playful banter, making numbers and statistics engaging and relatable.

---

Takeaway for Listeners

• The 10% brain usage claim is a long-standing myth with no scientific basis, kept alive by popular culture.
• Scientific evidence shows nearly all of your brain is active most of the time, both consciously and unconsciously.
• Football transfer values are subject to complex statistical modeling, but many human factors and “intangibles” can alter the actual fees significantly.

---

For further questions or myth-busting, listeners are encouraged to reach out to the show.

Transcript

[A]

This is the short edition of More

[B]

or Less, first broadcast on the BBC World Service.

[C]

Thank you for downloading from the BBC. For details of our complete range of podcasts and our terms of use, go to bbcworldservice.com podcasts

[A]

hello, and welcome to More or Less on the BBC World Service. I'm Tim Harford. This week, how do you work out a footballer's price tag? But first, I used to be just like you. They put drugs in me that will allow me to use 100% of my brain. The new Scarlett Johansson film is out.

[C]

Lucy is the first human being to unlock more than 10% of her brain.

[A]

Her character Lucy, described there by Morgan Freeman, has achieved what apparently no human before her has, the ability to use more than 10% of her brain. It's often said that we only use 10% of our brains. Is it true?

[B]

Well, the simple answer is no.

[A]

This is Professor Sophie Scott from the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London in the uk.

[B]

There's a number of different ways you can answer the question, like, what do you mean by using your brain? But pretty much a lot of your brain, or most of your brain is doing something most of the time. So at one level, metabolically, your brain is a phenomenally expensive organ. So your brain is only about 1% of your body weight, but it uses at any one time around 20% of the available oxygen in your blood. And that's because it's using that oxygen to actually maintain the potentials, the cell potentials in the neurons, which means that they can work. So it's a very, very expensive thing. And it's actually working away all the time to be usable.

[A]

It would be wasteful to have it just ticking over and not using 90% of the capacity.

[B]

Exactly. And then in terms of sort of the way that it functions again, your brain is working away all sorts of things you don't even necessarily realize that you're doing. So talking to you now, I'm sitting upright in a chair. I'm not falling to the ground. And that's actually requiring quite a lot of postural control, which is occurring in my brain. And I'm also talking to you, listening to you, looking at you, moving my hands. I'm doing all sorts of different actions which are all and perceiving all sorts of different things which are all being controlled by my brain. And on top of that, I'm thinking about what I want to say. I'm thinking about all sorts of other things that are going on immediately, still all being underpinned by your brain. So there's all sorts of conscious and unconscious stuff going on. Absolutely, all the time.

[A]

Okay, so this claim then that we use only 10% of our brains, where did it come from? Do we know?

[B]

It actually comes from a self help book from nearly 100 years ago. And the idea there was sort of saying you can be more, you can do more with your life. And the particular unfortunate example they gave was you're only using 10% of the brain, you can do so much more if you use more of your brain. Now it is absolutely true. Think about the plasticity of our brains. We can do more. We're phenomenal at learning skills and even the conversation we're having now is changing our brains. You know, everything we learn to do changes.

[A]

I'm getting smarter. I'm not sure you are, but fine.

[B]

But what that doesn't mean is that the brain itself is not working all of it, pretty much all the time.

[A]

Do a lot of people believe the 10% claim?

[B]

It seems to be absolutely endemic and it crops up in popular culture like in this film.

[C]

At 24% she can control the cells in her body. At 40% she can control.

[A]

Now we have Morgan Freeman as a neuroscientist saying it. I think that's going to give it at least another 50 years of life. He's a very authoritative man, isn't he?

[B]

Morgan? I must not believe it.

[A]

What happens when she reaches 100%?

[C]

I have no idea.

[A]

Professor Sophie Scott. And if after listening to her you still believe that you're only using 10% of your brain, well, you may be right. The football season is underway already in the top European leagues. And as if the media weren't busy enough reporting reporting on the games, they're also saturated with rumours and reports of players moving from one club to another. In Europe, the deadline to complete such transfers is fast approaching.

[B]

Signed for a British record fee, Manchester United secure winger Angle di Maria for 59.7 million pounds. Liverpool have finally confirmed the signing of AC Milan striker Mario Balotelli. The 24 year old is Liverpool's ninth summer signing and has cost the club 6,16 million pounds.

[A]

The main thing that's reported when a player moves from one club to another is the transfer fee. That is effectively the compensation one team pays to the other to release the player from his contract. But how do the two clubs arrive at that value? I spoke to Dr. Raffaelli Poli who co founded the CIES Football Observatory which is part funded by football's governing body FIFA and affiliated with the University of Neuchatel in Switzerland. They've created a statistical model of the underlying transfer value of every player in the top five leagues in Europe. That's Spain, Italy, Germany, France, England. This model is based on previous transfer fees and the variables it contains are the players age, the length of contract remaining, the position in the side, the league in which they play, the team they play for, matches played, goals, assists, factors such as the number of tackles, how many international matches they've played and for which team. One of the most eye catching transfers of the summer was Argentine international Angela Maria, moving from Real Madrid to Manchester United for a British record transfer fee of £59.7 million. That's €75 million. I asked Dr. Poly if that was a fair price according to his analysis.

[D]

I don't think so. Manchester United started badly this season. This has probably pushed him to overpay. These players is double the value that we estimated according to our model.

[A]

Hmm. But Manchester United have been desperate for a while. Angel Di Maria isn't the only player they bought. We asked Dr. Poli to estimate how much they may have overpaid just in this transfer window. He reckons Ander Herrera is worth £16 million. That's $26 million, but reportedly £29 million, that's $47 million were paid. Luke Shaw was worth £26 million, $43 million, but including various add ons, £31 million, $51 million were reportedly paid. And then of course there's angel di Maria, worth 36 million pounds, $59 million, but apparently costing nearly 60 million pounds. And that's $98 million. And that is a total of 42 million pounds. Overpaid 70 million. Those numbers don't even include Rojo because he's come from the Portuguese league and that's not included in Dr. Poli's model. Well, what about another high profile transfer, Mario Balotelli's move from AC Milan to Liverpool? Balotelli is 24 years old, he's an Italian international and he's got a good goal scoring record. But Liverpool only paid £16 million or €20 million. Why? Well, Seb Ewan, a football agent, isn't surprised that the fee is modest.

[E]

You mean Balotelli, peripheral player, perennially in the press, not necessarily somebody who is generally regarded as being easily manageable. A lot of people within the game would consider him to be a risk playing for a club who has had better years financially than is currently ongoing. I think that's every reason why he's 16 million and admittedly still a risk at 16 million, but an extremely well calculated one I think.

[A]

Dr. Poehly though reckons Balotelli is worth 28 million pounds. That's 35 million euros. So Liverpool got a bargain for Balotelli.

[D]

He was underpaid because of non sporting related issues. Balotelli unfortunately wasn't able in the past to behave in the best way, but sportingly it's a good price, a good thing for Liverpool to have been able to to transfer these players to sanyun for only 20 million euro.

[A]

Hmm. Well, it seems every transfer we look at there's some sort of special case to explain why the actual transfer fee is different from the model. But I suppose we are looking at the most eye catching examples. Dr. Poli says that overall his statistical model accounts for 80% of the variability in transfer fees. Now, even giving him the benefit of the doubt on that, it leaves 20% for the football agents to argue about. As Sebuin says, it can be a messy business.

[E]

There are many things that you can't account for and because of that reason alone I think it's impossible to be able to sort of assess and quantify accurately via statistics. I think they will always give you a very, very good indication but in many cases they can be very, very wide from the reality of it.

[A]

Football agent Seb Ewan do please get in touch with any numbers you'd like us to look into. You can email us at more or lessbc.co.uk and you can download previous editions of the program for [e-mail] more or less goodbye.

[C]

There are dozens of different podcasts now available from the BBC, including news, documentaries, science, business, arts and sports. For details of them all go to bbcworldservice.com podcasts.