The Brain Game
Date:
Wednesday, June 11, 2025
Time:
1:20 pm
Track:
Summary:
Why can decisions be so difficult to make, and how can our thinking go so wrong? Accurate observation and analysis are critical if we are to provide good advice to stakeholders and good requirements to implementors. But what we perceive isn’t always the whole story. In this immersive session, learn about how the mind works and how the very structure of our brain can cause us to miss data, consider wrong information, and jump to conclusions — and what we can do about it. Participants will act as different parts of the brain, to see how the flow of information can be sidetracked and undermined. We’ll introduce different brain structures, cognitive biases, and models of how the brain operates. We’ll also experience them in action in a simulation of information flows in the brain. We’ll finish with a discussion of real-life examples. Participants will gain a fuller understanding of the mind, and how to use it better. (Creative & Facilitation help by K. Claycomb, S. Helmers, B. Casteele)
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- Understand a model of how the brain filters and processes information
- Learn about some common cognitive biases: what they do, how to recognize them and how to adjust for them
- Improve their ability to help stakeholders make decisions