Sarah-Jayne Blakemore is a leader in the field of adolescent brain development. She studied experimental psychology and got her PhD from University College London. Her research shows that the human brain continues developing well into our twenties and thirties, challenging the previous assumption that brain development was complete in early adolescence. She engages audiences with her presentations by beginning with an opening assumption that she later disproves using visual representations and references to maintain attention.

1. THE
MYSTERIOU
S
WORKINGS
OF THE
ADOLESCEN
T BRAIN

2. SARAH-JAYNE BLAKEMORE
Leader of the Developmental
Cognitive Neuroscience Group at
the institute of Cognitive
Neuroscience at the University
College of London.
Co-Author of The Learning Brain:
Lessons for Education.
Studied Experimental Psychology
at Oxford University and then got
her PhD at UCL.

3. The Mysterious Workings of t
Adolescent Brain
Her thesis is that
human brain
development is not
all over in early
childhood and
instead the brain
continues to develop
right throughout
adolescence and
into the twenties and
thirties.

4. Sarah-Jane caught the audience’s
attention firstly by opening with an
assumption that she later disproved
which was that fifteen years ago it was
believed that brain development
occurred only in the first stages of
adolescence.

5. She then continued in
a way that seemed
like she had already
started talking and
was continuing what
she had said
maintaining the
audiences attention.

6. Dynamism
4/5
I gave Sarah-Jayne a 4 out
of 5 because she was
informational and had her
presentation put together
well and she had a good
use of visuals as well as
short humorous sayings.
Perhaps her presentation
would have been better if
she was more humorous
and had opened with an
interesting story.

7. Garr Reynolds or Nancy Duarte
Sarah-Jayne used a far amount of visual representation.
She also used a quite a bit of movement in her presentation.
Though she did not use very many interpersonal stories in her
speech.

8. I learned that the audience is
more responsive to relatable
instances and jokes.
Also visuals are important but
not necessary.
I also learned that I should
make the audience
comfortable by telling
personal stories.

9. Similarities
Both Sarah Jayne Blakemore and Sir Ken Robinson
seem to be very enthusiastic about their topics.
They both care about education.

10. Differences
Sir Ken Robinson focuses on schools and the knowledge the schools
teach while Sarah-Jayne Blakemore focuses on how people learn the
knowledge.
As a speaker they differ quite a bit were as Sir Ken Robinson seems to
be more comfortable and confident in front of crowds and had the
audience laughing a lot more.

11. Tips
Trying to be relatable to your audience is
important so I would suggest trying to break up
any tension with appropriate and funny jokes.
Also telling a personnel and relevant story could
also be helpful. And visual representation is also
important.