Neuroscience in Film: Distinguishing Fact and Myth in the Portrayal of Intelligence in Defending Your Life

Humans have the potential to use most of their brain if they choose to use reason and logic in their everyday decision making process. The movie 'Defending Your Life' examines how using more of one’s brain power and overcoming earthly fears can propel an individual to move on to the next phase of existence and experience more of the universe. Conquering earthly fears, as the main character Daniel did, could be considered emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is the ability to reason correctly about emotions and to use this knowledge to bolster thought and overall intelligence. But do humans only use ten percent of our brains? Or do they have the ability to use more? In reality, we use more than ten percent of our brain, but most of the time we normally use or need only ten percent of our brain; this fact could have attributed to the origin of the ten percent myth (Barry L. Beyerstein, 1999). In the early 20th century, scientists only knew the function of ten percent of the brain (Barry L. Beyerstein, 1999). This is another possible origin of this common myth. The limiting factor in our brain potential is in the retrieving of the stored information in our brains, not the storage of the material (Barry L. Beyerstein, 1999). In fact, every part of the brain has a known function, which is called localization (Barry L. Beyerstein, 1999). Simply, every different part of the brain controls something different. Today, many questions regarding the functioning of the brain lingers unresolved.

[...] Beyerstein in Cometh the Myth that We Only Use 10% of Our Brains: Mind Myths: Exploring Popular Assumptions About the Mind and Brain. The myth of ten percent brain usage is disproved by multiple arguments. Doubts from brain damage, evolution, brain imaging research, localization of brain function, and others, all disprove this myth (Barry L. Beyerstein, 1999). We maximize our brain function because it would inefficient and too costly to keep providing unused brain with energy. The brain requires a tremendous amount of energy and nutrients to run (Barry L. [...]

[...] In Defending Your Life, the main character Daniel had untapped potential, not untapped brainpower. Throughout the entire movie, references are made about characters using different percentages of their brains making each character more or less intelligent. In reality, this is not true as supported by science and stated above. In the movie, Daniel, who uses three percent of his brain, must overcome and conquer his fears. The emotion of fear has limited his decision-making process and general intelligence. This is related to emotional intelligence. [...]