ays & Qu o te s

Takeaw ina’s
Dr. John Med
from

Bra in know

s
eed to

e
rs n

l
esente

Ru
What all pr

B o ok ReadinHgYE
D
by VA UPA
“
Brain Rules is one of the
most informative,
engaging, and useful
books of our time.
Required reading for
educator
business
every person.and every

”
My favorite book
of 2008!
— Garr
Reynolds
Presentation Zen
Introduction
 r. John
is D
This na
Medi
 He knows ho
work w these

r. John
is D
This na
Medi
These takeaways and quotes are
based on three of Dr. Medina’s 12
>

just
rules
These takeaways and quotes are
based on three of Dr. Medina’s 12
>

just
rules

Here they are...

John Medina’s 12 Brain rules

in
t hi s list
do wnload
You c
an les
a i n Ru -r
PDoFm the Br
s .n e t/the
ite: nrule
fr
webs .brai
www
ules
John Medina’s 12 Brain rules
“
If you are
education, you are
in the business of
brain development.
in

If you are leading a

modern

”
corporation... you
brains
work.
need to know how
— Dr. John Medina
 n #1
Bra i
R u l e
Rule #1 rain power
ercs
i e boosts b
Ex
What are some
examples of perfect
“anti-brain”
according t o
environments today?
Medina
Dr.
 the
Lecture
hall
Classroom
pic
Clas the
m sroo
 The
office
Classroom
pic
“
There is no greater anti-
brain
environment than the

”
classroom
and
cubicle.
— Dr. John
en ,
Medina
Am er!
broth
Sure, you know
exercise is good for
you...
But exercise is not just
good for general health, it
actually improves cognition.
 But exercise is not just
good for general health, it
actually improves cognition.

Two reason
s for this...
1

“
Exercise
increases
oxygen flow into
the
brain,
reduces
brain-bound
which
free
radicals
...an increase in
oxygen is always

”
accompanied by an
sharpnes
s.
uptick
— Dr. John in mental
Medina
2

“
Exercise acts
directly
on the
molecular
machinery of
the itself. It
brain
increases neurons’
creation, survival,

”
and
to resistance
damage and
stress. — Dr. John
Medina
 rain benefits:
More b
NEFITS
BE

Reduces
de prtession
Trea s tia
dem evn
Impr es
o
rea ng
soonvie s l o ng -
Im pr
ere
tm mmo
ry proves
Im
elligen
inutid
fl
ce
Reduceesr’s
keb
zh
rils
A y
im
50% p s y ou solve
H el
ore...
problems And m
1 Passively sitting is a very
unnatural thing.
Audiences have no
patience for tedium.
Think of the presentation
from your audienceʼs
point of view.
2 During the preparation
stage, if youʼre struggling
with an idea, if youʼre
stuck, then go for a walk,
a run, just move...
...we were born to
move.
Evidence suggest we may

even think better if we toss

the couch-potato lifestyle.

 Rule #1
Exercise boosts brain
power.

vie
Re ✓ Our brains were built for
walking/moving!
w ✓ To improve your thinking skills, move!
✓Exercise gets blood to the brain,
bringing it glucose and oxygen.
✓Aerobic exercise 2x/week halves the
risk of general dementia, reduces risk of
Alzheimer’s by 60%.
✓Exercise is just about the best
thing you can do for yourself says Dr.
Bra i n 2
#
R ul e
SURVIVAL | Rule #2:
The human brain evolved, too.
• The brain is a survival organ. It is
designed to solve problems related to
surviving in an unstable outdoor
environment and to do so in nearly
constant motion (to keep you alive
long enough to pass your genes on).
We were not the strongest on the
planet but we developed the strongest
brains, the key to our survival.
• The strongest brains survive, not the
strongest bodies. Our ability to solve
problems, learn from mistakes, and
create alliances with other people
helps us survive. We took over the
world by learning to cooperate and
forming teams with our neighbors. •
Our ability to understand each other
is our chief survival tool.
Relationships helped us survive in the
jungle and are critical to surviving at
work and school today.
• If someone does not feel safe with a
teacher or boss, he or she may not
perform as well. If a student feels
misunderstood because the teacher
cannot connect with the way the
student learns, the student may
become isolated.
•There is no greater anti-brain
environment than the classroom and
cubicle.
Bra i n 3
#
R ul e
WIRING | Rule #3:
Every brain is wired differently.
• What YOU do and learn in life
physically changes what your brain
looks like – it literally rewires it. We
used to think there were just 7
categories of intelligence. But
categories of intelligence may
number more than 7 billion—roughly
the population of the world.
• No two people have the same
brain, not even twins. Every student’s
brain, every employee’s brain, every
. • You can either accede to it or ignore it.
The current system of education ignores it by
having grade structures based on age.
Businesses such as Amazon are catching on
to mass customization (the Amazon
homepage and the products you see are
tailored to your recent purchases).
• Regions of the brain develop at different
rates in different people. The brains of school
children are just as unevenly developed as
their bodies. Our school system ignores the
fact that every brain is wired differently. We
wrongly assume every brain is the same.
. • Most of us have a “Jennifer Aniston”
neuron (a neuron lurking in your head
that is stimulated only when Jennifer
Aniston is in the room).
Bra i n 4
#
R ul e
ATTENTION | Rule #4:
We don't pay attention to boring things.
What we pay attention to is profoundly influenced
by memory. Our previous experience predicts
where we should pay attention. Culture matters
too. Whether in school or in business, these
differences can greatly effect how an audience
perceives a given presentation.
• We pay attention to things like emotions, threats
and sex. Regardless of who you are, the brain
pays a great deal of attention to these questions:
Can I eat it? Will it eat me? Can I mate with it?
Will it mate with me? Have I seen it before?
• The brain is not capable of multi-tasking. We can talk and
breathe, but when it comes to higher level tasks, we just
can’t do it.
• Driving while talking on a cell phone is like driving drunk.
The brain is a sequential processor and large fractions of a
second are consumed every time the brain switches tasks.
This is why cell-phone talkers are a half-second slower to
hit the brakes and get in more wrecks.
• Workplaces and schools actually encourage this type of
multi-tasking. Walk into any office and you’ll see people
sending e-mail, answering their phones, Instant Messaging,
and on MySpace—all at the same time. Research shows
your error rate goes up 50% and it takes you twice as long
to do things.
• When you’re always online you’re always distracted. So
the always online organization is the always unproductive
organization.
Rule #4
n’t p ay
We d o
n tio n t o
atte s
g thin g
bo rin
 im po rtant
hing else
som et n
Here’s h e pre p a rat io
omember in
tre t
stage:

u ltitask i
M
nisg a my th
.
“
Multitasking,
when
it comes to

”
paying
attention, is a
myth. — Dr. John
Medina
“
We are biologically
incapable of
processing attention-rich
inputs
simultaneously.

— Dr. John
Medina
People who are
interrupted:
Take 50% longer to complete a
task.
Make 50% more errors.
 e is g re a t , but
y, b ei n g onlin
He o w m uc h
b e su rp r i s e d h
yo u ’ d
o n n e c te d” is
ofour “being
y
c
also
eing
“b ”
interrupted.
“ ”
you’re
When always
you’re always
distracted. — Dr. John
Medina

online
“
So the always online
organization is the

”
always
unproductive
organization. — Dr. John
Medina
Yet, most presentations are put
together while doing other
things...

Is this
you?
Johnson!
tWhere’s
ha t
pIreskeentation
as d
for?!!!!
If the presentation matters, you
need time off the grid to
prepare.
Try “going analog” and focusing
only on the presentation in the prep
stage.
The
brnaein
eds
a bre
ak.
“
If keeping someone’s
attention in a lecture was a

”
would have
business, it an 80% failure
rate. — Dr. John
Medina
After 10 minutes,
audience
attention steadily
drops.
 The 10-minute
rule
Hig
h

Attention

Low

1 20 30 4 5
0 0 0
Minutes of class
time
So do something
emotionally relevant at
each 10-minute mark
to regain attention.
Dr. Medina
suggests changing
gears every 10
minutes in your
presentation
(lecture, etc.). Tell a
relevant story,
show a relevant
video, do a
relevant activity,
etc.
We’re wired to
notice
patterns
 Chunking
example

IRSYMCAWTFIBMKGBFBI

At first those letter won’t make sense...

But eventually y
ou’ll
crecnokgsnyiz
hu e’ve se
ou en
before.
 Chunking
example

IRSYMCAWTFIBMKGBFB
I
Of course, graphic design can help you see the chunks...

Adapted from:
www.brainrules.net/attention
“
The brain
pays
attention
Remembering
to patterns.

some- thing we’ve

seen before (like
quick- sand) is a

”
evolutionary
useful
trait. —Medina
Dr. John
What’s the most
common communication
mistake?
ording t o D r.
acc
Medina
“
Relating too much information,
with not enough time
devoted to connecting the

”
feeding, very
dots. Lots little
of force
digestion. — Dr. John
Medina
“
The brain doesn’t pay
attention
boring to and I am as
things,

”
sick of presentations as you
boring
are. — Dr. John
Medina
 5
Brai n #
R ul e 5
SHORT-TERM MEMORY | Rule #5:

Repeat to remember. • The human brain can

only hold about seven pieces of information
for less than 30 seconds! Which means, your
brain can only handle a 7-digit phone
number. If you want to extend the 30
seconds to a few minutes or even an hour or
two, you will need to consistently re-expose
yourself to the information. Memories are so
volatile that you have to repeat to remember.
• Improve your memory by elaborately
encoding it during its initial moments.
Many of us have trouble remembering
names. If at a party you need help
remembering Mary, it helps to repeat
internally more information about her.
“Mary is wearing a blue dress and my
favorite color is blue.” It may seem
counterintuitive at first but study after
study shows it improves your memory..
• Brain Rules in the classroom.
In partnership with the University of
Washington and Seattle Pacific University,
Medina tested this Brain Rule in real
classrooms of 3rd graders. They were asked
to repeat their multiplication tables in the
afternoons. The classrooms in the study did
significantly better than the classrooms that
did not have the repetition. If brain scientists
get together with teachers and do research,
we may be able to eliminate need for
homework since learning would take place at
school, instead of the home
 5
Brai n #
R ul e 6
LONG-TERM MEMORY |
Rule #6: Remember to repeat.
• It takes years to consolidate a memory. Not
minutes, hours, or days but years. What you
learn in first grade is not completely formed
until your sophomore year in high school.
• Medina’s dream school is one that repeats
what was learned, not at home, but during
the school day, 90-120 minutes after the
initial learning occurred. Our schools are
currently designed so that most real learning
has to occur at home
. • How do you remember
better? Repeated exposure to
information / in specifically
timed intervals / provides the
most powerful way to fix
memory into the brain.
• Forgetting allows us to
prioritize events. But if you want
to remember, remember to
repeat.
 5
Brai n #
R ul e 7
SLEEP | Rule #7:
Sleep well, think well.
• When we’re asleep, the brain is not resting at
all. It is almost unbelievably active! It’s possible
that the reason we need to sleep is so that we
can learn.
• Sleep must be important because we spend
1/3 of our lives doing it! Loss of sleep hurts
attention, executive function, working memory,
mood, quantitative skills, logical reasoning, and
even motor dexterity.
• We still don’t know how much we need! It
changes with age, gender, pregnancy, puberty,
and so much more
. • Napping is normal. Ever feel tired at 3PM?
That’s because your brain really wants to take a
nap. There's a battle raging in your head between
two armies. Each army is made of legions of brain
cells and biochemicals – one desperately trying to
keep you awake, the other desperately trying to
force you to sleep. At 3PM, 12 hours after the
midpoint of your sleep, all your brain wants to do
is nap.
• Taking a nap at 3PM might make you more
productive. In one study, a 26-minute nap
improved NASA pilots’ performance by 34 percent.
• Don’t schedule important meetings at 3pm. It
just doesn’t make sense.
 5
Brai n #
R ul e 8
STRESS | Rule #8:
Stressed brains don't learn the same way.
• Your brain is built to deal with stress that lasts
about 30 seconds. The brain is not designed for
long term stress when you feel like you have no
control. The saber-toothed tiger ate you or you
ran away but it was all over in less than a
minute. If you have a bad boss, the saber-
toothed tiger can be at your door for years, and
you begin to deregulate. If you are in a bad
marriage, the saber-toothed tiger can be in your
bed for years, and the same thing occurs. You
can actually watch the brain shrink.
• Stress damages virtually every kind of cognition that
exists. It damages memory and executive function. It
can hurt your motor skills. When you are stressed out
over a long period of time it disrupts your immune
response. You get sicker more often. It disrupts your
ability to sleep. You get depressed a lot.
• The emotional stability of the home is the single
greatest predictor of academic success. If you want
your kid to get into IIT, go home and love your
spouse.
• You have one brain. The same brain you have at
home is the same brain you have at work or school.
The stress you are experiencing at home will affect
your performance at work, and vice versa.
 5
Brai n #
R ul e 9
SENSORY INTEGRATION | Rule #9:
Stimulate more of the senses.
• Our senses work together so it is
important to stimulate them! Your head
crackles with the perceptions of the whole
world, sight, sound, taste, smell, touch,
energetic as a frat party.
• Smell is unusually effective at evoking
memory. If you're tested on the details of a
movie while the smell of popcorn is wafted
into the air, you'll remember 10-50% more
. • Smell is really important to business.
When you walk into Starbucks, the first
thing you smell is coffee. They have
done a number of things over the years
to make sure that’s the case.
• The learning link. Those in
multisensory environments always do
better than those in unisensory
environments. They have more recall
with better resolution that lasts longer,
evident even 20 years later.
 5
Brai n #
R ul e 10
 le #10
Ru
tru m p s
Vis io n
r senses
a ll othe
 : w e h ave
Fa ct
re c all for
bett e r
nfo rm a tion
visua l i
We are incredible at remembering pictures.
Hear a piece of
information, and three
days later you’ll remember
10% of it.
Add a picture and you’ll
remember 65%.
 Rule of
thumb
Oral
10%
3 6
Visu 35 x x
al %
Oral &
65
Visual %
Source: Najjar, LJ (1998) Principles of educational multimedia user interface design (via Brain Rules by John
Medina, 2008)
“
Why is vision such a big
deal to us? Perhaps
because it’s how we’ve
always apprehended
major threats, food

”
supplies and
reproductive
opportunity. — Dr. John
Medina
“
Why is vision such a big
deal to us? Perhaps
because it’s how we’ve
always apprehended
major threats, food

”
supplies and
reproductive
opportunity. — Dr. John
Medina
Can I eat it? Will it eat
me? Can I mate with it?
Will it mate with me? Ha
ve I seen it before?
Pictures beat text
 Recognition soars with

“
pictures
Various studies show that

”
recognition doubles for a picture
compared with text.
— Dr. John Medina

pictures
only

text only

0 50 100
% % %

source:
www.brainrules.net/vision
“
Pictures beat text...because
reading is so inefficient for us.
We
Thathave
takestotime.
identify certain
features in the letters to be
able to read them.
— Dr. John
Medina

”
 5
Brai n #
R ul e 11
GENDER | Rule #11:
Male and female brains are different.
• What’s different? Mental health professionals have known
for years about sex-based differences in the type and severity
of psychiatric disorders. Males are more severely afflicted by
schizophrenia than females. By more than 2 to 1, women are
more likely to get depressed than men, a figure that shows up
just after puberty and remains stable for the next 50 years.
Males exhibit more antisocial behavior. Females have more
anxiety. Most alcoholics and drug addicts are male. Most
anorexics are female.
• Men and women handle acute stress differently. When
researcher Larry Cahill showed them slasher films, men fired
up the amygdale in their brain’s right hemisphere, which is
responsible for the gist of an event. Their left was
comparatively silent. Women lit up their left amygdale, the one
responsible for details. Having a team that simultaneously
understood the gist and details of a given stressful situation
helped us conquer the world..
• Men and women process
certain emotions differently.
Emotions are useful. They make
the brain pay attention. These
differences are a product of
complex interactions between
nature and nurture
 5
Brai n #
R ul e 12
EXPLORATION | Rule #12:
We are powerful and natural explorers.
• The desire to explore never leaves us despite the
classrooms and cubicles we are stuffed into. Babies
are the model of how we learn—not by passive
reaction to the environment but by active testing
through observation, hypothesis, experiment, and
conclusion. Babies methodically do experiments on
objects, for example, to see what they will do.
• Google takes to heart the power of exploration. For
20 percent of their time, employees may go where
their mind asks them to go. The proof is in the bottom
line: fully 50 percent of new products, including Gmail
and Google News, came from “20 percent time.”
 ain ...
le s ag
re e ru
se t h
e th o
t’s se
Le
Review
Que s t io n fo r th e
ules mea
e 3 r
n:at presentation? And
Wh do the s fo r th e
f
world o ool in
rk and sch
ld of wo
wor
general?

All 12 rules at a
glance
 These slides were produced by Garr
Reynolds
in his home in Osaka Japan. Software

どうもありがとう
used was Apple’s Keynote (but

PowerPoint would’ve done the trick as

well) and a bitDomo
of Photoshop.
Arigatou

Checkout
t
PhZe
website!

tationzen.com
www.presen
GARR
REYN
OLDS