Ask A Scientist General Science Archive

Question:  Is there any way to tap into the unused portion
of the brain?
 the outlaw

Answer 1:  You mean, by means other than studying?
How about turning off the television forever?  :-)
-dr topper
 
Answer 2:
*snicker* good one, Dr Topper.  I'll try to answer this one, too..
There really aren't any sections of the brain that are unused; it's
just that only that small fraction is normally involved with
conscious thought -- the rest is involved with the complicated job
of keeping you breathing.  Ever notice how squirrelly really smart
people are?  (present company excluded, of course *grin*)  I
tend to think that's because more of their brain is used for
coming up with complicated theories than for, say, sanity.
If you really want to train your brain to use more of.. well, itself
for thinking, I suggest you try doing a lot of things (not all at
once, of course -- your brain can only take seven different tasks
on at one time..)  Try a variety of activities which will stimulate
more areas of the brain -- so play strategy games, solve puzzles,
read books, learn to paint or sing or whatever.  As a general rule,
"Renaissance" type people tend to be more intelligent, by virtue
of their experience with so many different things, which leads to
a more convoluted mind.  (am I straying off the subject?  well, good..)
Anyway, basically, the more you use your brain, the more you'll be
ABLE to use it to think intelligently later on -- you've trained
it to utilize more of the tools with which it was formed..
 
--WORD!!

Answer 3:  Good answer!  -dr t