Where did the notion that we use only 10% of our brains come from? On what basis is this claim made?

Where did the notion that we use only 10% of our brains come from? On what basis is this claim made?
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Answer :

Not true, @talljasperman. It came from pretty much nowhere, and goes as far back as the 1920s (There’s an advertisement for the 1929 World Almanac containing the line “There is NO LIMIT to what the human brain can accomplish. Scientists and psychologists tell us we use only about TEN PER CENT of our brain power.” From wikipedia). MRI scans show no such thing (they generally show the majority of our brain is active, to different degrees depending on the task). The most plausible explanation for the origin is that it was taking the idea of “people don’t live up to their potential” and attaching a number to it to make it sound sciency. It was pulled out of someone’s nether regions and now refuses to die.
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