The Pause that Refreshes

Experienced speakers intuitively recognize that a pause helps recapture an audience's attention. Now comes scientific data.

A just published study in the journal Neuron finds that pauses in classical music help refocus the brain and allow it to better sift through an often confusing flow of information. Researchers at McGill and Stanford universities studied subjects using MRI images to determine how the brain reacted to musical transitions.

While the study considers only music, my non-scientist brain immediately saw the connection to public speaking. Extrapolating the results of the research, it seems to make sense that a long, continuous data dump loses effectiveness as audience minds start to wander. However, use of occasional and strategically placed pauses should help snap listeners to attention and help them sort out the message being delivered.

For additional details, see the news release from the Stanford School of Medicine. The online version includes MRI video of how the brain reacts to changes in musical tempo.