Communication triggers responses in the brain via two pathways: the low road, which elicits quick, emotional reactions based on heuristics, and the high road, which involves more deliberate reasoning and decision-making. The document notes that emotional responses typically precede reasoning and that storytelling effectively combines evocative communication with descriptive elements. This understanding of brain pathways is crucial for creating impactful messages that engage audiences.

1. The Brain and Communication
Excerpt from
“How Communication Works”
viralstorytelling.com

2. Any message or form of communication provides a
stimulus, interpreted by the brain following either
the high road or the low road.

3. The low road is linked to the emotional and
archaic brain which dictates quick reactions based
on heuristics – known reactions/interpretations to
given problems that don't require reasoning.

4. The high road requires more time and attention
and activates the most recent parts of the brain.
The high road the preferred way of taking
motivated decisions when there is no specific
element of stress involved.

5. Since the roads are physical routes taken by the
electrical information of our nervous system, there
is no in-between; our brain rapidly elaborates
which road a message is going to take, and then it's
one or the other.

6. Reasoning may follow, in time, an initial emotional
response – but not the other way round.

7. Evocative communication follows this principle:
the message produces a stimulus for the emotional
brain, calling for a reaction of the low road to apply
a known heuristic.

8. Descriptive communication usually follows the
evocative moment, when there is a chance to do
so.

9. Storytelling is a common technique combining the
evocative principle of a protagonist we identify with
and a description of what gets in her way.