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

Pastor Jude Fouquier | 05.12.24 | The Pursuit