It’s an oft-cited statistic, but constant repetition does not make it accurate.
This damage can result in a range of consequences, from mild disruptions in cognitive abilities to complete impairment.
Brain damage can be devastating, but is it always permanent?
esenkartal / iStock Vectors / Getty Images
A person’s ability to recover from brain damage depends upon the severity and the location of the injury.
For example, a blow to the head during a football game might lead to a concussion.
While the injury can be quite serious, most people can recover when given time to heal.
A severe stroke, on the other hand, can result in damage that can very well be permanent.
However, it is important to remember that the human brain has an impressive amount ofplasticity.
This idea stems from the popular notion that people are either dominated by their right or left brain hemispheres.
Howbig is the human brain?
How does it compare to other species?
But what about relative brain size in proportion to body size?
Once these cells are lost, are they gone for good?
Could drinking alcohol really kill brain cells?
Based on this research, seems as if the human brain contains closer to 85 billion neurons.
So while 100 billion is a few billion too high, 85 billion is still nothing to sneeze at.
For example,one popular theoryproposes that people tend to be more auditory, visual, or kinesthetic learners.
In other words, some people learn best by hearing, seeing, or doing.
One large-scale study found no evidence to support the use of learning style assessment instruments.
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.Traumatic brain injury: Hope through research.
Modified April 24, 2020.
Parent, A; Carpenter MB (1995).
1".Carpenter’s Human Neuroanatomy.
Modified December 16, 2019.
Department of Health and Human Services.Alcohol’s damaging effect on the brain.
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.Alcohol and the brain.
Herculano-Houzel S.The human brain in numbers: A linearly scaled-up primate brain.Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.
2009;3(31).
2008;9(3):105-19. doi:10.1111/j.1539-6053.2009.01038.x
