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90% of Your Brain: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:jojobrain_6760.png|link=Jo
{{quote|''"[This myth is] one of the hardiest weeds in the garden of psychology."''|'''Donald McBurney''', neuropsychologist.}}
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For exceeding the limitations of the body to epic effect, see [[Charles Atlas Superpower]]. Also see [[Pineal Weirdness]], which tends to show up in similar places.
{{examples
== Anime and Manga ==
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* ''[[Akira (Manga)|Akira]]'' has Tetsuo and the Espers, who have crazy mental abilities due to this trope. It's implied that the rest of humanity has the same potential, but it goes unrealized.
* The ''Night Head Genesis'' anime states at the start that normal people leave ''70%'' of their brain unused. Once again, this explains psychic powers.
* ''[[Fist of the North Star (Manga)|Fist of the North Star]]'' does something similar with ''breathing''. The real secret to Kenshiro's [[Charles Atlas Superpower]] is harnessing the traditionally untapped 70% of his breathing. The Ripple in ''[[Jo
* The Stone Mask-created [[Our Vampires Are Different|vampires]] in ''[[Jo
* Played straight in ''[[To Aru Majutsu no Index]]'' as the eponymous character can only retain 1 year of memory in her mind, because 85% of it is taken up with an eidetic recollection of the [[Neuro Vault|complete contents of 103,000 spellbooks]]. {{spoiler|That is, until it gets subverted with a sledgehammer when a professor reveals that the "15% left over for a year's memories" is complete BS and even ''gives a proper explanation of how the mind works'' in the series. Cue [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] as the hero realizes that he's been played for a sucker.}}
* ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'''s Universal Century:
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* Referenced for the sake of a joke in ''[[Wedding Crashers (Film)|Wedding Crashers]]''. "You know how they say we only use ten percent of our brains? I think most people only use ten percent of their hearts."
* In ''[[My Favorite Martian]]'', Uncle Martin states that Martians earn their powers from fully using their brains. Tim disagrees, and the reply is "Your astronauts pee in their spacesuits. Case closed".
* ''[[The
* ''[[Inception]]'' says this is why in dreams your brain can work faster, as the majority of your brain's processing ability is devoted to processing sensory perceptions. With the use of shared dreaming technology, the brain can work much faster, allowing for a dreamworld hour to pass in minutes in the real world.
* In ''[[Scott Pilgrim vs. the World]]'' vegan evil ex-boyfriend Todd Ingram claims the source of his psychic powers is that he's able to use more than 10% of his brain because isn't gunked up with all that filthy animal protein. Of course, brain is ''made'' out of animal protein, but given that Todd also says that he does not know the meaning of the word "incorrigible" {{spoiler|and he literally does not}}, this creates [[Unreliable Expositor|reasonable doubt of the credibility of his claim]].
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* [[Tortall Universe|Daine]] makes a reference to this in Wolf-Speaker while sharing the mind of a wolf whose brain was changed by association to her magic: "Numair had said, in an anatomy lesson, that humans used little of their brains... For Brokefang the difference was that each nook and cranny of his skull was packed with ideas."
* The [[Douglas Adams]] book ''[[The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul]]'' plays with this: a character in a coma has a dream in which her mind is represented by an infinite collection of cabin trunks, of which ten percent contain past memories, and the remaining ninety percent contain [[
* Subverted during the climax of [[Jim Butcher]]'s ''[[The Dresden Files|White Night]]''. Harry Dresden's mental passenger Lasciel temporarily over-clocks his brain in order to gain additional time to react to a threat. It is made clear that this is a very Bad Idea and will likely result in brain damage if done for an extended period of time.
** Commented upon and played straight multiple times in the series, Lash even resides in the so-called "unused parts of Harry's brain".
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* The main plotline for an episode of ''Honey, I Shrunk the Kids''. To make matters more silly, accessing the other 90% gave the character in question godlike powers. Not to mention all this was caused by a device that was established in a previous episode to be used for [[Freaky Friday Flip|brain-swapping]].
* In ''[[Star Trek Deep Space Nine]]'', this is cited as why Dr. Bashir can lose a portion of his brain and be completely fine. (This was before Bashir was [[Retcon|Retconned]] to be superintelligent.)
* Spoofed in an Italian [[Real Trailer Fake Movie]] parody of ''Limitless'', mercilessly titled ''Italiano Medio'' (''[[Self
{{quote| '''Protagonist's friend:''' You know that story, that we use only twenty percent of our brain? *hands him pill*<br />
'''Protagonist:''' OK, I'll try it just out of curiosity. *swallows pill*<br />
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