Follow the Yellow Brick Road

I’m curious about how things work, especially what makes an idea have the mental stickyness in commnication. Recently I came across an interesting bit of information on the human brain from Roy Williams, a self-professed wizard of persuasion. You can learn about Roy and his work here. Like Roy, I have a fascination with how the human brain works. If you’re involved in communication of any kind, I think it’s useful to have at least a basic understanding of how the grey matter between our ears processes information.  Think about this idea from Roy:

You’re a marketing message... Your hope is to arrive at the Emerald City, located in the prefrontal cortex of the human brain, that place where decisions are made in the mind. However the journey to the Emerald City is long and difficult because the prefrontal cortex is the most isolated part of the brain that gathers information from the outside world. How will you, a marketing message, find your way to the Emerald City? Follow the yellow brick road of course.

But there’s a catch.

In order to travel the yellow brick road, you must first pass through a tollbooth called “Broca’s Area”.  Positioned next to the ear, Broca’s area screens all sensory input coming into the brain. In order for you, a marketing message, to pass, the price at Broca’s tollbooth is very steep indeed. When confronted with all sensory input, Broca cries, “Interest me! Surprise me with something I didn’t know. If you are not carrying new information or a new perspective, you’ll not enter the yellow brick road to the Emerald City!”. Broca turns away everything he “sees coming”.  Broca hates the predictable. This is the brain’s way of focusing your conscious attention.

The Yellow Brick Road that runs from Broca’s area to the Emerald City is called the “dorsolateral prefrontal association area” of the brain. In neuroscience parlance it’s known as working memory. We’ll call it imagination. According to neurological science, working memory (imagination) has three parts: the central executive, the phonological loop and the visuospatial sketchpad.

The central executive chooses where to direct your attention. (after Broca has decided what does or doesn’t matter). The central executive decides what matters the most.

The phonological loop rehearses sound. Like when a song that gets stuck in your head, the phonological loop is a cul-de-sac on the Yellow Brick Road.

The visuospatial sketchpad is where you “see” things that have never happened. Like a movie screen in your mind.

Amazingly, all this happens on the Yellow Brick Road of the dorsolateral prefrontal association area of your brain.  A part not connected to your eye, but to your ear. So If you are a marketing message, you better sound very seductive and irresistible if you want to pass through the tollbooth of Broca’s area on your way to the Emerald City.