Every company wants a training program that brings employees to proficiency in the shortest possible time. But not every training program offers the right conditions for skills acquisition. In an exclusive webinar, Dr Coral Shachar, PhD, explains what the brain needs in order to learn new skills, and how AI role plays create the optimal learning conditions.

What you will learn

• What is required for the brain to learn new skills
• How to engage the brain for it to learn more effectively
• Why traditional training blocks the brain from learning new skills
• How AI role plays create the right learning conditions

Successful Training Is About the Brain, not Behavior

Most training programs focus on employee behavior, but behavior is only a symptom of the way that the brain operates. Every time you learn something new, you create a connection between brain cells which grows stronger the more you practice.

Dr. Shachar explains that complicated skills like active listening or clear communication demand a network of connected cells. Because the brain is also a muscle, strengthening cells within it requires exercising it repeatedly in a range of scenarios.

Traditional Training Triggers the Wrong Parts of the Brain

Our brains are made up of:

• The cortex, which governs higher-level cognitive reasoning and memory;
• The limbic system, which regulates our emotions;
• The amygdala, which helps us survive.

Successful training has to activate the high-level cognitive cells of the cortex. But with traditional role play training, trainees worry about embarrassing themselves in public, and stress that they won’t achieve a “good” role play in the limited time available.

As Dr Shachar explains, these fears trigger the amygdala to arouse the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), which powers the body’s fight-flight-freeze response and diverts brain power away from the cortex. The brain doesn’t have enough energy to build vital skills, and the trainee gets headaches and stomach aches because the SNS floods it with adrenaline.

That’s why many people say that they don’t like role play training.

AI Role Play Sets the Stage for Learning

When trainees practice with Second Nature’s AI avatars, they feel safe. No one is watching and they have unlimited tries. This triggers dopamine which increases motivation, and oxytocin which makes them feel excited. Electricity and energy are pushed into the cortex and the trainee is eager to repeat the training.

According to Dr Shachar, the brain reacts to Second Nature’s genuine AI role plays as though they are real. Practice with an AI conversation partner powers real skills acquisition while the brain feels safe enough to learn.

AI Role Play Skills Hold Under Pressure

Second Nature’s AI role play partners have unlimited time and patience, allowing trainees unlimited practice through different scenarios. This builds a thick network of connections between the cells, ensuring that the skills will be automatically activated even in stressful conditions.

“If you take all the elements and work with the brain in a safe environment, the connections in the brain will be really strong. In one day, employees who have AI role plays with unlimited tries and a sense of safety can achieve the same performance level that they would need two or three months to get to with traditional training,” says Dr. Shachar.

The Key Neuroscientific Elements of Successful Training Programs

1. Keep stress level low. Allow trainees to acquire skills in private.
2. Allow unlimited tries. Unlimited practice reduces performance anxiety.
3. Provide constructive feedback to show the brain how to improve.
4. Make it active. Require trainees to act in multiple different scenarios.
5. Trigger oxytocin and dopamine. Enjoyable training stimulates hormones that boost motivation.

Key takeaways

• When the brain is stressed, it can’t learn new skills
• Traditional training triggers a stress response
• Second Nature’s AI role plays allow the brain to form a network of cell connections
• An effective training program should be interactive, low-stress, and allow unlimited tries, with timely feedback and enjoyable experiences

Second Nature’s AI Role Plays Build Skills for Life

Once you understand how the brain works, you can adjust your training program to create the conditions that the brain needs to build skills. Second Nature makes it easy to offer private, stress-free, unlimited training that activates the higher-reasoning cortex, freeing employees to build skills for the long term.