People are more satisfied by explanations that contain neuroscientific jargon and images. Why? Because dopamine fires up the hippocampus, and that’s a fact! (Warning: It’s not.) 

This week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Owen and Ross G are separating fact from fiction as we discuss neuroscience with Amy Brann, author of Make Your Brain Work. 

We discuss: 

• The meaning of neuroscience (as a discipline vs in popular media) 

• The relevance of neuroscience for HR and L&D 
• Practical insights from neuroscience. 

During the discussion, Owen referenced two papers: 

Weisberg, D. S., Keil, F. C., Goodstein, J., Rawson, E., & Gray, J. R. (2008). The seductive allure of neuroscience explanations. Journal of cognitive neuroscience, 20(3), 470-477. Online at: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2778755/ 

Farah, M. J., & Hook, C. J. (2013). The seductive allure of “seductive allure”. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 8(1), 88-90. Online at: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26172255/  

In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Owen discussed Wordle (nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html), Heardle (.spotify.com/heardle/) and Framed (framed.wtf/)  

Ross discussed the Freakonomics series ‘What Can Blockchain Do for You?’: freakonomics.com/podcast-tag/what-can-blockchain-do-for-you/  

For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtoolsbusiness.com. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work.  

To find out more about Amy, see amybrann.com/ and synapticpotential.com/  

Connect with our speakers  

If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers on Twitter:  

• Ross G - @RossGarnerMT  
• Owen Ferguson - @OwenFerguson 
• Amy Brann – @Amy_Brann