[neilep (OP)]

[?]...I've been pondering....as I do when I spend most the night awake as to what the potential of my brain is !!..Most people I know would say I reached my brains capacity many years ago when I finsihed nursery school/kindergarten !!![]....but I know our neurons store familiar images, places, family, friends, events, sounds, tastes and smells etc etc as chemical changes in brain cells. Now, last time I opened up my head and looked inside I found more neurons than I could count, even more than my fingers and toes put together !!![]...so, my question (finally eh ?) is how many neurons does my brain have...I realise it's an enormous number and that there is no danger of my using them all before I quit the Earth...but a guestimate from all you wonderful people would put my mind at ease. Ta


'Men are the same as women...just inside out !'

[qpan]

well, humans only use approx 10% of brain as adults! Don't know exactly how many neurons, just know that most of them are unused!

"I have great faith in fools; self-confidence my friends call it."
-Edgar Allan Poe

[cuso4]

Yes, most humans only used the top few cms of cerebrum called the cerebral cortex. I saw a program about a women who has a massive hole in the centre of her brain and yet her brain work just as well as normal people. Actually, her IQ is above the average!

Angel

[qpan]

I've always been sceptical of IQ tests- i don't think it manages to measure your intelligence accurately; but just measures how good you are at taking IQ tests.
For example, one of my friends has a below average IQ (91), yet is very intelligent (but is crap at IQ tests). And the guy with the highest IQ (155) is coming middle of the class and not top (in my college at uni).

However you're right about only certain sections of the brain being used. I've heard that people who are born with certain underdeveloped/maldeveloped areas of their brain show brain activity in other sections of brain which normal people don't use, and can be exceptionally gifted at doing certain things due to using other areas of the brain!

"I have great faith in fools; self-confidence my friends call it."
-Edgar Allan Poe

[neilep (OP)]

Thanks Angel , thanks Qi Pan,

I'm certainly aware that we only use a minority percentage of our brain matter, perhaps the other 90% is for suspension or for shock absorption !!....(errr...I'm joking there).....and I certainly agree about the validity of IQ tests (not that i'm being defensive cos I've never taken one before).....I just see IQ tests as indicators of how good people are at taking IQ tests :-)....thanks though, seems I'm gonna have to spend all night counting my neurons again!!!

'Men are the same as women...just inside out !'

[Donnah]

IQ tests are only as smart as the people who create them.

I think we use the other 90% of our brains too...we just don't know how or for what.

[roberth]

I understand that about 40% of our brain is used for our vision. Our eyes start deteriorating from the time we are born, but our brain compensates and continues to show us clear, coloured vision until you have to use external correction. I've also noticed that people in more "brain draining" type jobs tend to need glasses earlier than people in other fields (vision defects excluded, of course), I guess because they use a larger portion of their brain for other things.
Balance and hearing also use a fair portion of the brain.

[cuso4]

Between the skull and the cerebrum there is a membrane called meninges (hence the disease meningitis) and between the meninges and cerebrum there is the cerebral fluid, this is where the shock absorption and suspension come in.

Angel

[neilep (OP)]

Thanks Angel,

Next time my head goes in for it's annual service I'll get it upgraded to sports suspension and shock absorption !!..that 'll help when I bang my head against the wall in the middle of the night!!

Roberth, regarding 'brain draining' type jobs leading to earlier needs for glasses, that's a very interesting observation...I wonder if there's any studies to validate that.

'Men are the same as women...just inside out !'

[roberth]

Neilep, I'm sure that gazing at a computer screen all day is bad for your eyes, so any studies done these days would be a bit skewed towards people needing glasses earlier anyway, no matter what their occupation. It would be an interesting hypothesis to try and prove, though. Currently, it's just something I've noticed.

[bezoar]

Someone told me that becoming more nearsighted is sort of an evolutionary adjustment, as our society becomes more cerebral and does more office work that requires a greater need for near vision.  Also said that people's heads are becoming larger, and that we are losing our wisdom teeth, in that more and more people are born without any wisdom teeth.

[tweener]

According to several doctors I've talked to, the reason people in "brain drain" type office jobs need glasses more often is that when the eyes have to stay focused up close for long periods of time they lose their elasticity and cannot focus at a distance.  The eye muscles have to contract to focus close and relax to focus at a distance, assuming no defects in the shape of the eye.  

I fell into this trap in graduate school - I studied so much that I ended up not being able to read street signs.  The optometrist I went to prescribed fairly strong reading glasses and fairly weak distance correction (in bi-focals) to make my eyes work at focusing on distance.  It worked.  Now I can see distance (about 20/15) and up close (20/20), but I wear reading glasses to read and work the computer to keep my eyes focused in distance.

----
John - The Eternal Pessimist.

[neilep (OP)]

Nancy...I definitely agree with you regarding the evolutionary adjustment, I've heard exactly the same about Wisdom teeth too, it's like witnessing evolution 'while you wait'.

John, are you saying that the bifocals reversed the lack of elasticity that happened to your eyes and that you no longer need them except your reading glasses ?....just curious that's all.



'Men are the same as women...just inside out !'

[Ultima]

I have no wisdom teeth [] although both my parents do. In fact my mother has supernumerary teeth, and had several whole sets of teeth removed when she was younger. Exactly how do the genetics work for that?

wOw the world spins?

[Quantumcat]

quote:Originally posted by qpan

I've always been sceptical of IQ tests- i don't think it manages to measure your intelligence accurately; but just measures how good you are at taking IQ tests.

That's something I remember my dad saying to me when I was happy I got 135 or something on an IQ test and it deflated me :-( he also said well if you're happy that you're good at IQ tests, then good for you, but they don't really mean anything.... :-(

Speaking of wisdom teeth, mine started coming through a few months ago and it hurt like crazy when I ate I don't have to get the top ones removed since I had two teeth removed up there when I got my braces People say it hurts to have them removed though Can someone tell me if it hurts more than having other teeth removed (a bloody lot even with local anethetic ) or less?

Am I dead? Am I alive? I'm both!

[neilep (OP)]

Hi Erin (neil here)...i just asked my friend who had his wisdom teeth taken out under a local anaesthetic and he assures me that in his case, he felt no pain at all...but I suppose each case has to be taken into consideration via it's own merits...I wish you luck...and that's the tooth !!!.....*crumps into a heap from citing a bad joke*

'Men are the same as women...just inside out !'

[s_firestone]

I think the only limitation to the vast amount of information that you can take in that you can only take in serially and not in parallel.

An ounce of perception
A pound of obscure
Process information at half speed
Pause, rewind, replay
Warm memory chip
Random sample, hold the one you need

RUSH, Moving Pictures - Vital Signs

[^]

Stephen Firestone
Klaatu Verada Nikto

[tweener]

I've had several teeth removed (prior to braces - to make room) and when it cam to the wisdom teeth, I had them done under general anastesthetic.  It was well worth it.  Of course I would rather have a filling done without any anastesthetic than to have the shot in my mouth.  I've had several fillings "live" by the way.

I think it depends heavily on your particular wisdom teeth and your situation how bad they will hurt.  Talk to your dentist.

And, yes Neil, the bifocals did reverse my eyesight problems (along with better long term viewing habits and a year of not working on computers).  Now I don't need glasses for anything, but if I read for a long period of time I notice it takes a little extra time to adjust out to distant objects.  So, I wear reading glasses (Foster Grant) when I'm working or reading.

----
John - The Eternal Pessimist.

[Quantumcat]

Okay I see. Doesn't sound like it'll be that bad then.

Philippe told me his wisdow teeth on the bottom grew in sideways !!! I don't know how. He can't be bothered to go through the bother of going to the hospital and getting them removed so he still has them.... isn't that weird ! (that they grew in sideways I mean)

Am I dead? Am I alive? I'm both!

[bezoar]

Teeth growing in sidewards means they're impacted and generally need to come out.  His teeth may not bother him now, but if he's getting increased headaches, that could be the reason.  This is something that can be done in the office.  The hardest part is holding your mouth open for a long time.  If the teeth are not fused to the bone, shouldn't be a big procedure, provided you find someone who knows what he's doing.  And go to an oral surgeon -- not just a dentist.