If you’ve ever heard a fun fact about the brain for years on end, chances are you ended up believing it without ever thinking twice about it. The truth is, most of what you’ve learned about the brain is probably not true. Here’s a list of eight commonly believed facts about the brain that aren’t actually all they’re cracked up to be.
Your obsession over having a clean room isn’t OCD, it’s OCPD.
Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder, according to the National Institute of Health, is characterized by preoccupation with rules, orderliness and control.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, according to the same source, is characterized as an individual having obsessive and intrusive thoughts which force him or her to perform certain actions (compulsions) to alleviate the anxiety and distress involved with the disorder.
That person who laughs along with his friend almost bragging about how OCD she is because she organizes her things so much may very well go home that night and wash his hands until they bleed because he believes that if he does not, his family will be murdered. OCD isn’t a fantasy mental illness for the overly organized; for millions, it is a literal nightmare.
Being an introvert does not mean you are antisocial
The opposite of social is antisocial, so it makes sense that that someone who is antisocial is also an introvert. However, this is far from the case. The prefix anti means opposed to, or against. When you put anti in front of social, you get something very different from the laughable introvert that so many people claim they are when they say they are antisocial.
Antisocial personality disorder is characterized by disregard for the law, lying and deception, impulsiveness, aggression, disregard for safety and most notably, lack of remorse or guilt. Those that suffer from Antisocial Personality Disorder are more commonly referred to as psychopaths (generally genetically predisposed) and sociopaths (caused by the environment).
(Source: 1)
"Lucy" lied to you - you use a lot more than 10 percent of your brain
This myth is believed to have originated from an 1800s Harvard psychologist, who believed that raising a child prodigy provided evidence to suggest that the average person does not use as much of their brain as a prodigy does, leading some to believe this meant only a small percentage of the brain is used. In reality, the theory that the smarter you are the more brain you are using isn’t totally crazy. It’s just that if anything, it’d be more like 97 percent versus 97.5 percent.
So what’s the proof?
When was the last time you heard of someone getting shot in the head and not only surviving, but having absolutely no change in mental function? If only 10 percent of the brain were used, it should also be true that only about 10 percent of brain injuries would result in a change in mental function.
(Source: 1)
A sugar high is literally the placebo effect
The human mind is more powerful than most people would imagine. Parents will swear up and down that when they give their children sugar, they get super hyper. However, countless double-blind studies have proven that there is absolutely no difference in the behavior of children given a sugar-filled diet compared to children given a sugar-free diet meaning that the affect is purely due to the child expecting a certain outcome. Even when studies have been done on those particularly sensitive to this myth (children with ADHD and sugar sensitivities), meaning that a sugar high is literally the placebo effect!
(Source: 1)
You are not left-brained or right-brained. You are whole-brained.
While it is true that some mental functions are stronger on one side of the brain than others (i.e. speech and language interpretation), there is no such thing as being right or left-brained. Aside from those exceptions, most brain functions take place across the entire brain.
So that means if you’re super creative and you hate math, the right side of your brain is no stronger than the left because the areas of the brain involved in creativity are located all over, not just on one side.
(Source: 1)
Different learning styles are nonsense (unless there is a learning disorder involved)
Much like the sugar high myth, the idea that individuals have varying learning styles has generally been accepted as untrue. Many scientists agree that learning styles are simply the learning preference of the individual, and studies have backed this up by showing no change in the amount of retained information when the learning style is changed.
Unlike most of the other misconceptions listed in this article, there are exceptions to this rule. In cases where there are learning disorders involved (i.e. dyslexia), some learning styles will be less effective, but only due to that disorder.
(Source: 1)
Schizophrenia does not mean you have multiple personalities
Although the word from which the term came from does mean “split,” Schizophrenia is not characterized by having multiple personalities. Instead, this symptom is characteristic of a disorder called Dissociative Identity Disorder (more commonly known as Multiple Personality Disorder).
Schizophrenia is a very complex disorder and encompasses much more than one might realize. Symptoms can range anywhere from disordered speech or poor memory, to paranoid delusions, lack of emotion and severe hallucinations. Some mild sufferers are able to live their lives without issue, but the most severe cases require intense therapy and medication to overcome the disorder.
And no, those with schizophrenia are no more dangerous than any other person in the world; they are ill, not crazy!
Your terrible headache isn’t a migraine, it’s just a really bad headache
Would you assume that you had a cold because you sneezed a few times? That’s silly, right? That’s, in a way, what is happening when someone complains of a migraine because he or she has a terrible headache and no other symptoms.
What most people think of when they think of a bad headache is actually just muscle pain in the head or neck area. A migraine, on the other hand, is a disorder caused by over activation in certain parts of the brain that can result in dull to extreme head/neck pain, difficulty walking and/or talking, vomiting, body sensitivity and nasal congestion. Chances are, if you can calmly tell someone you’re having a migraine, you probably aren’t having one at all.(Source: 1)
So there you have it, all of those things you learned over the years are totally untrue! Never believe what you hear unless you find proof to back it up, especially when it comes to something as complicated as the brain!
