We often talk about

how XR technologies are great tools for education and training on

this podcast. But why is that? Like, physiologically? Turns out, XR

tickles the thalamus in ways traditional learning strategies never

could, and that's not us just whistling Dixie.

Today's guest --

Cognitive Design & Statistical Consulting, LLC CEO Todd Maddox --

has a PhD in Computational and Psychological Science, meaning there's

no one better to explain why XR and your brain are a match made in

heaven.

Alan: You're listening to the XR

for Business Podcast with your host, Alan Smithson. Today's guest is

Todd Maddox. He is a cognitive design specialist. Todd is a PhD, and

the CEO and founder of Cognitive Design and Statistical Consulting

LLC. He's also a learning scientist and a research fellow at Amalgam

Insights. His passion is to apply his 25 years of psychological and

neuroscientific expertise gained by managing a large human learning,

memory, and performance laboratory to help build better education and

training solutions. Todd has published over 200 peer reviewed

scientific articles, resulting in over 10,000 academic citations and

hundreds of speaking engagements. During his 25 year academic career,

he's awarded $10-million in federal grants from the National

Institute of Health, National Science Foundation, and the Department

of Defense to support his research. Since entering the private

sector, Todd has embarked on a mission to translate the amazing body

of research conducted in the ivory towers into plain English and help

companies leverage this research to build better products. Todd is

especially interested in applying his expertise in the psychology and

neuroscience of learning, memory, and performance, and to use

immersive technologies in manufacturing, health care, corporate

training, and retail, to name a few. You can follow Todd on LinkedIn.

Just look for "Todd Maddox PhD."

Todd, welcome to the show.

Todd: Hey, Alan, it is fantastic

to be here. Thank you.

Alan: It's such an honor. I've

been reading your posts and your articles, and trying to get through

some of your scientific papers is a challenge. It's so much

information there.

Todd: Yeah, I hear you. And to

be honest, my recommendation is to sort of skim the peer-reviewed

stuff, because it does seem like it's written in a foreign language,

even though it is English. And the LinkedIn post and the more recent

stuff, where I really try to talk in plain English, because if a

scientist can't present their work in plain English then there's

something wrong. So that's what I'm trying to do.

Alan: I love it. And one of the

articles that was recently published was a report on VR as an empathy

builder, through Tech Trends.

Todd: Yeah.

Alan: Here, I'm just going to

read a quote from it:

"Any profession that requires

interpersonal interaction, such as education, retail, food service,

call centers is better served with strong empathy." Let's start

with that.

Todd: Totally, yeah. Every one

of those examples is a people example; people interacting with other

people. I know we've got amazing technologies; we've got robots,

we've got all these wonderful things that are making our lives

better. But let's face it, in the end, it's about people interacting

with other people and caring for other people, walking a mile in

somebody else's shoes. That is really just so critical.

These technologies -- in particular

virtual reality, I would say -- this is an immersive technology. I

could be dropped into any environment. That's amazing, that's very

cool. But now imagine: Todd, a middle-aged hetero white guy gets

dropped into an environment where Todd is now a young

African-American lesbian woman. And whateve