Question: Is it true that a quarter of the brain doesn't do anything or we don't know what it does?

Rachael Ward answered on 16 Jun 2011:

@georgeteamstarkidweasley

Good question but also a really hard question to answer.

To answer the second part – is it true we dont know what some of the brain does? Yes, thats true. While we have been able to work out WHAT most parts of it do (eg the cerebellum at the very bottom, back of your skull is involved in movement as well as attention and language), we know much less about HOW they do this – and thats the really interesting bit!

Is it true that a quarter of the brain doesnt do anything?
The brain is amazing. I volunteer with people who have brain injuries and some of them have lost a lot of their brain – for example, they may had to have operations to remove some of it after an accident. However, many can still speak, walk, laugh and do things they did before, not because the bits of the brain they lost didnt do anything in the first place but because other bits of the brain have been able to take over and do those things now. Unfortunately, they can never do it as well as the original brain did so people might speak with a stutter or have difficulty remembering things or get upset more easily than before.

Also, some people say we dont “use” all our brain and if we “train” it, we will get cleverer. This is a contraversial subject and I am not sure if I agree with it or not but I dont think its true that a quarter of our brain doesnt do ANYTHING. It might be possible that it could do MORE but that is something that needs more research so if youre interested in becoming a scientist…..

I hope thats answered your question a bit!