Made You Look

carmen simon, made you look, how to use brain science to attract attention and persuade others.

have you ever struggled to capture your audience's attention or make your message stick?

do you feel like your ideas are getting lost in the noise of information overload?

this chapter explores how insights from psychology and neuroscience can help you become a master communicator.

you'll learn how to prime your audience for maximum receptivity, leverage the power of embodied cognition, and tap into the brain's reward systems to create truly engaging experiences.

whether you're a marketer, educator, or business leader, these strategies will help you cut through the clutter and make a lasting impact.

ready to take your communications to the next level?

let's get started.

priming your audience imagine you're at a magic show.

the magician waves a wand and utters a few mysterious words.

suddenly, you're on the edge of your seat, fully alert and ready for the trick.

what if business communicators could engage their audiences as effectively as this magician captures your attention?

here, the trick is what psychologists call priming.

just as a magician sets the stage for a mind-blowing trick, priming involves exposing the brain to a stimulus to influence its response to what follows.

by strategically leveraging priming techniques, you can make content quicker to understand, easier to remember, and more engaging for your target audience.

to wield priming effectively, be methodical.

first, identify the essential points you need your audience to focus on.

then, devise primers to deploy right before those crucial segments.

here are four types of priming you can incorporate.

first, perceptual priming engages the audience's senses through design elements like images, colors, and textures.

these visual cues can make the brain more receptive to important information, even when the content itself might seem dry or complex.

by incorporating compelling visuals that are relevant to your message, you can create a more immersive experience that primes your audience to pay attention.

next up, semantic priming.

this leverages the brain's natural tendency to form associations between related concepts.

by introducing an idea that's conceptually linked to your main message, you can help your audience grasp new, related information more quickly and easily.

this approach essentially greases the wheels of comprehension, allowing your audience to absorb your content with less cognitive strain.

the third type is affective priming, which taps into the power of emotion to make your message more impactful and memorable.

by evoking feelings like surprise, curiosity, or positivity, you can put your audience in a receptive and flexible state of mind.

affective priming can be particularly useful when introducing novel or challenging ideas, as it opens the door to new perspectives and possibilities.

finally, there's repetition priming.

this involves strategically repeating key information to help your audience process and retain your message more efficiently.

the old adage says, tell them what you'll tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them.

but this may be misguided.

according to the author's research, simply repeating a core message four times is more effective than bookending content with agenda and summary slides.

while it might feel redundant to the presenter, repeating crucial points reduces the cognitive load for the audience.

indeed, it often takes multiple exposures for complex ideas to fully sink in.

so the next time you're preparing an important piece of content, think like a magician setting the stage.

take the time to storyboard your key ideas, devise imaginative primers, and build in strategic repetition.

your audience may not levitate out of their chairs, but they'll be far more likely to focus on, remember, and act on your crucial information.

the matrix may have gotten it wrong.

in the iconic 1999 film, trinity downloads a program into her brain, instantly learning the art of helicopter flight.

this scene perfectly encapsulates the classic view of the brain as a computer-like entity.

but in fact, our minds are far more deeply intertwined with our bodies and environments than this tidy metaphor suggests.

this viewpoint in psychology is called embodied cognition.

it says the brain's primary purpose isn't abstract reasoning or rule following, but something far more primal.

movement.

the brain evolved to let us physically engage with the world, to navigate our surroundings, explore new territory.

our higher cognitive faculties, from language and memory to decision-making and imagination, are ultimately in service of this fundamental need to move effectively through space.

what evidence do we have for this view?

well, take reading comprehension.

studies have shown that when we act out the content of a message, even in subtle ways, our understanding and retention of the material improves dramatically.

this goes for language in general.

our verbal abilities are tied to motor control, with the same brain regions lighting up whether we're talking about kicking a ball or actually doing it.

even abstract mathematical reasoning has been shown to rely on embodied intuitions, with gestures and physical movements correlating strongly with operations in geometry and physics.

so what's all this mean for business?

it means we ignore the body at our peril.

too often, corporate communications rely on disembodied modes of information, transfer.

think slides of bullet points, jargon-filled e-books, or hours-long presentations where the only thing moving is the speaker's mouth.

but if embodied cognition is right, then we're wasting an opportunity.

the solution?

find ways of putting your message into motion to create a physical presence and dynamism that mirrors the active nature of the brain itself.

one approach is to invite more hands-on participation.

think product demos that let customers get up close and personal with your offerings or interactive training sessions that get participants physically engaged.

a second is to create the perception of movement, even when your medium is static.

this could mean incorporating strategic animations into slide decks or varying the pacing and visual rhythm of presentations.

the benefits are many.

by activating multiple cognitive pathways, from the visual and auditory to the motor and kinesthetic, you'll lighten the brain's processing load and make your ideas easier to grasp.

you'll create a sense of dynamism and momentum that keeps audiences engaged and alert.

and most importantly, you'll foster a deeper sense of connection, a feeling that your message isn't just an abstract concept but a tangible force to be reckoned with.

putting these principles into practice takes creativity and skill.

but in a world where attention is the scarcest resource of all, the ability to make your ideas move, to give them a vitality and presence that mirrors the restless, seeking nature of the mind itself, is the closest thing you have to a secret weapon.

pleasure and reward.

imagine you're watching a chef prepare your favorite meal.

as you observe the sizzling pan and breathe in the savory aromas, your mouth starts to water, and your stomach grumbles in anticipation.

now picture yourself stuck in traffic, frustrated and impatient as the minutes crawl by.

in both scenarios, your brain is responding to the presence or absence of a key factor, pleasure.

pleasure and reward are powerful forces shaping our attention, motivation, and behavior.

by understanding the brain's reward systems, we can craft experiences that captivate.

three components of reward are at the core of this framework.

wanting, liking, and learning.

wanting is the drive to pursue a reward, and it's fueled by the neurotransmitter dopamine.

it's what makes us crave a delicious meal or look forward to a fun event.

liking, on the other hand, is the actual enjoyment we feel upon receiving the reward.

this pleasure relies on opioid and cannabinoid activity in the brain.

finally, learning involves the associations and predictions we form around rewards based on past experiences.

together, these three elements create a powerful feedback loop that directs our attention and shapes our choices.

a key strategy to cement this process is the use of intermittent reward schedules.

just as slot machines keep players hooked with unpredictable payouts, it's possible to sustain an audience's engagement by varying the timing and intensity of rewards in an experience.

this could mean interspersing moments of humor, surprise, or delight throughout a presentation, or providing unexpected bonuses to loyal customers.

by keeping rewards somewhat inconsistent, we tap into the brain's natural tendency to pursue uncertain outcomes.

another way to capture attention is by creating what's called incentive salience.

the magnetic pull of cues that signal a reward is nearby.

this could be the alluring glow of a sale sign in a store window or the ping of a new message on your phone.

in a professional context, you might pique curiosity with an intriguing email subject line or a visually stunning product demo.

the key is to design elements that create a visceral sense of anticipation and signal something valuable is close by.

also important are social rewards.

humans are social creatures.

we're more motivated to engage when we feel a sense of belonging, status, or shared purpose.

by framing an experience as a chance to connect with like-minded people, showcase one's expertise, or contribute to a cause, we can tap into the brain's social reward circuits and inspire people to act.

ultimately, the science of pleasure and reward offers a toolkit for designing experiences that resonate with the human brain.

by thoughtfully incorporating these principles, we can create content, products, and interactions that not only grab attention but leave a lasting impact.

understanding what motivates and moves people lets us craft experiences that transcend mere information or entertainment and tap into something deeper in the human psyche.

the main takeaway to this chapter-to-made-you-look by carmen simons is that by leveraging insights from psychology and neuroscience, you can engage your audience for maximum impact.

from using perceptual cues like priming to tapping into the power of emotion and embodied cognition, there are many ways to make your message more memorable and persuasive.

the brain evolved for movement, the brain evolved for movement and social connection, not abstract reasoning.

so find ways to put your ideas into motion.

finally, don't forget the power of pleasure and reward by using techniques like intermittent and social rewards.

and that's it for this chapter.

we hope you enjoyed it.

if you can, please take the time to leave us a rating.

we always appreciate your feedback.

see you soon.