PowerPoint zen

By Michael Fraase

Saturday, 23 February 2008 04:29PM CST

Section: Business

Clear and to the PointAnnalee Newitz says Stephen Kosslyn’s presentation to the American Association for the Advancement of Science was “one of the most interesting examples of applied cognitive science” she’s ever seen.

Harvard psychology chair Stephen Kosslyn‘s cognition research reveals that PowerPoint presentations can be improved through four cognitive science rules that are deceptively simple:

  • The Goldilocks Rule suggests presenting an amount of data that’s “just right” for the task at hand.
  • The Rudolph Rule suggests making the most important part of the presentation stand out, by circling it in red, for example. The human eye is drawn to differences.
  • The Rule of Four states that the human brain can simultaneously process only four pieces of visual information, so never present more than four visual items on a single slide.
  • The Birds of a Feather Rule indicates that humans tend to group items that appear close together or look similar. It sounds simple, but take a look at the information you’re presenting and see if you’re grouping items you want the audience to consider together. Chances are you’re not.
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