Savvy marketers have exploited natural human tendencies for years. Americans tend to wander to the right when we walk into a building, so retailers put their most important stock on the right side of an entrance. We also tend to see what is at our eye level, so packaged-food manufacturers pay stores a premium to put their products in the middle shelves so we see those products first.
The goal of these tactics is to make it easy for us to see and buy what they want us to. What if we applied these principles to help convey scientific research? If we used our finely evolved human tendencies as helpers to transfer information, could it help others appreciate our work?
Yes! By understanding how our brains naturally process information, you can create more engaging and effective presentations, making a better impression on your audience.
What gets our attention?
Our brains are naturally drawn to visual stimuli—we notice what stands out. Our eyes zoom in on changes and differences such as peaks, valleys, intersections, dominant colors, and outliers—so if you have an idea or a key piece of information, make it stand out
If you don’t make your main ideas stand out, the rest of your content will fight for attention and distract your audience from what you most want them to know.
Using bold or italic text is a way to stand out. Even a verbal pause (creating a change in cadence) or a verbal pointer (saying “This is important”) is a way to add prominence and make a key piece of information notable.
The science is clear: Humans can’t pay attention to two things at once.
Like a lot of people, I’m a multitasking junkie. But the reality is that we can pay attention to things only sequentially, one piece of info at a time. Sure, we can walk and talk at the same time, and I can wash the dishes while listening to a podcast. The catch is that these activities don’t both require conscious brain function. Our muscle memory takes over when walking or washing the millionth dish of one’s lifetime.
Even listening to a hands-free phone conversation while driving reduces our ability to see what is on the road. According to the National Safety Council, paying attention to a conversation steals our brain’s information-processing resources, preventing our vision from using them.
How do we inadvertently make listeners multitask?
Once we see or hear something, we try to make sense of it immediately and incessantly. If a concept is presented without telling the audience how it fits into the rest of the presentation, they are forced to simultaneously listen and attempt to figure out where it fits.
Just as motorists underestimate the hazards of listening to a phone conversation while driving, the difficulty audiences have when information and its context are not shared together is underappreciated. A great presentation will minimize the audience’s cognitive load as they receive the information. When you give context with data, your audience can focus on understanding your work and not waste mental energy wondering what it means.
If you present a chart, don’t immediately start talking over it. Otherwise, you’ll make it harder for viewers to understand the chart. Remember, we can’t concentrate on visual and auditory information at the same time! If your chart is interesting, viewers will tune you out to focus on it. Therefore, pause for a few moments to let the viewers’ brains take it in. Conversely, when you have something important to say, “put away” your chart.
Exclude noninformative text or other markings that detract from your main idea. Our brain will try to process everything it sees, so including extra words, text, lines, colors, etc., that don’t add explanatory information is a waste of the audience’s cognitive resources. The audience will have to actively ignore this clutter to focus on what’s important, so it’s best to avoid it altogether.
Use consistent coloring and directionality for common elements. If you present many related items, be sure to have the same colors mean the same idea throughout. If your message includes multiple populations or interventions, represent each with a consistent color. For quantitative data, make the interpretation of what higher and lower values mean consistent. Consistency cues the audience as to what to expect so they can relax and focus on your content.
The more you focus on the meaning of the information, the easier it is for others to grasp it.
If you want to drive information into someone’s brain, make sure they understand exactly what it means. Examples are super helpful in accomplishing this. We can grasp the information easier if it is immediately associated with information already present in our brain.
Take this example: “Something is soluble in water if its molecules dissolve in it.” This is a perfectly accurate statement.
It would be much easier to understand this abstract concept if you then heard, “For example, salt is soluble in water, but oil is not.” Just about everyone has had experience seeing salt dissolving in water and oil separating from it. The second sentence relates the new concept of “solubility” to knowledge we already have.
Tell stories to help people understand.
The relative newness of literacy in human history means that we have evolved to process information through stories rather than text. It’s still true that stories are more engaging, easier to understand, and—most importantly—easier to remember than a list of facts.
My favorite narrative framework to communicate research is Problem – Question – Answer.
Problem: What is wrong with the status quo or current situation? Framed in a way that inspires the listener to care.
Question: What question is motivated by the problem? Often the research question or objective.
Answer: The answer to the question, followed by the supporting evidence.
These strategies use our brain’s natural tendencies to our advantage to inform and impress an audience with ease. If you find them helpful and implement any of them, let me know how it goes!
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Work with me
When you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you get more attention for your research:
- Coaching for ambitious researchers who want their work to be impressive and memorable
- Team training to help organizations raise the science communication bar
- Speaking to groups introducing good principles of effective science communication