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The purpose of this paper is to propose an integrative framework bringing together results from neuroplasticity and decision-making from a neuroscience perspective with those from market plasticity, i.e. with which practices market actors shape markets.

Provided that developments in neuroscience indicate that training the brain for orientation toward efficient decision-making processes under uncertainty is possible, an in-depth analysis can be conducted by using the integrative framework, which was set up by the authors for advancing research efforts in neuroeconomics and neurofinance on these lines.

Markets have a plastic character; they can change shape and form and remain in that way thereafter. The marketers have always been causing this change to succeed in their marketing strategies and efforts. Plasticity, hitherto considered by marketing, market sociology and evolutionary economics, has a potential in financial decision-making processes, especially regarding its role in training the brain for stable financial decisions.

The theoretical approach can be incorporated for delivering an alternative representation of the knowledge processes associated with financial decisions.

The practical approach can be used for improving the practical aspects of financial decision-making processes.

The contribution is the first of its kind which integrates neuroscience approaches of plasticity and decision-making with the concept of market plasticity from the literature on economics and management, showing their similarities and opening a new front of discussion on how these two approaches can learn from each other to increase the explanatory power of financial decision-making processes and to gain new insights for financial decision makers on how to make more efficient financial decisions in the times of uncertainty.

This paper aims to introduce talent development professionals to the most recent breakthroughs in the science of neuroplasticity and how those breakthroughs directly apply to building better brains and a true learning organization. Brain plasticity is the ability of the brain to change chemically, physically, and functionally based on sensory and other inputs.

Viewpoint based on literature review and author’s own neuroscientific research over the past 30 years.

Gains can be made on standard measures of processing speed, attention, memory, and executive function and those changes generalize to standard measures of mood and affect the real-world activities. Benefits, seen in experiments over the past few years for peak sports performance, are now being applied in the workplace

It is hard to think of any job, where a faster and more accurate brain would not help.

Many learning and development professionals are not yet aware of the health and performance benefits of plasticity-based training. This paper provides summarized evidence of its efficacy for individuals and organizations.

The ability for an organisation to adapt and respond to external pressures is a beneficial activity towards optimising efficiency and increasing the likelihood of achieving set goals. It can also be suggested that this very ability to adapt to one's surroundings is one of the key factors of resilience. The nature of dynamically responding to sudden change and then to return to a state that is efficient may be termed as possessing the characteristic of plasticity. Uses of agent-based systems in assisting in organisational processes may have a hand in facilitating an organisations' plasticity, and computational modelling has often been used to try and predict both agent and human behaviour. Such models also promise the ability to examine the dynamics of organisational plasticity through the direct manipulation of key factors. This paper discusses the use of such models in application to organisational plasticity and in particular the relevance to human behaviour and perception of agent-based modelling. The uses of analogies for explaining organisational plasticity is also discussed, with particular discussion around the use of modelling. When the authors consider the means by which the authors can adopt theories to explain this type of behaviour, models tend to focus on aspects of predictability. This in turn loses a degree of realism when we consider the complex nature of human behaviour, and more so that of human–agent behaviour.

The methodology and approach used for this paper is reflected in the review of the literature and research.

The use of human–agent behaviour models in organisational plasticity is discussed in this paper.

The originality of this paper is based on the importance of considering the human–agent-based models. When compared to agent-based model approaches, analogy is used as a narrative in this paper.

The purpose of this study is to reveal how research on brain-based learning (BBL) addressing adult learners’ education and training issues has contributed to the overall knowledge base linking neuroscience, adult education and human resource development (HRD) research and practices. Through this comprehensive review of the BBL studies, this paper aims to expand the landscape of understanding educational phenomenon in adult education and organizational settings using the lens of neuroscience.

Using the content analysis method, this study extracts key research themes and methodological choices from the body of BBL studies. In addition, this paper explores the relationships and proximity among key concepts of BBL research using keyword network analysis. For data analysis, this study reviews the current literature on BBL addressing both adult education and HRD topics from 1985 to 2019.

The findings of this study provide a clearer picture of the potential mechanisms of BBL approaches observed in the literature of adult education and HRD. What has been found from the thematic analysis is that addressing misconceptions about the neuroscience of learning is regarded as an important topic. In terms of the methodological approaches, the literature review was a dominantly used method, whereas experimental or quantitative research has yet to be fully performed. Influential keywords and topics obtained from the keyword network analysis reveal the primary foci and structural patterns of current BBL research.

This study makes a significant contribution to theories and research in adult education and HRD scholarship as it provides an integrative view of key research themes and major issues about BBL. Additionally, our findings offer practical insights for adult educators and HR professionals to successfully apply neuroscientific approaches.

The purpose of this paper is to conduct a critical analysis to address cultural metaphors – a much overlooked aspect of cross-cultural studies. Mainstream cultural metaphors (e.g. the iceberg, the software of the mind, the onion, and the distance) are not only limited in number, but are also overwhelmingly based on the static paradigm – as opposed to the dynamic paradigm that is often sidelined in academic discourse.

The paper introduces the Diagram of Diversity Pathways – an interdisciplinary framework that sheds some light on how the inherent meaning and heuristic orientation of static cultural metaphors may stand at odds with evidence from the newly emerged field of neurobiology.

The implications of these metaphors are called into question, namely, culture is all about differences; values are stable; values guide behaviors; and values are seen as binaries.

The paper suggests that theorists and practitioners should pay more attention to the contribution and scholarly work of the dynamic paradigm since there appears to be substantial compatibility between them.

The matching of neurobiology and dynamic paradigm brings into focus alternative metaphors which not only offer insightful perspectives but also may open doors to perceive culture in a new way. Furthermore, cultural metaphors deserve more academic scrutiny because metaphors and theory development can have a symbiotic existence.

In this essay, I relate G. H. Mead's emergent theory of mind and reflexivity to neuroscience evidence that “minded” practices can be applied in restructuring the neural structures involved in obsessive-compulsive disorders, stroke patients, and depression. The demonstration that such efforts can become causal factors in changing material brain structures attests to the emergent reality of mind as conceived by Mead, the neuroscientist Roger Sperry, and others. This means that mind, arising from the material brain cannot be completely reduced to the biological properties that make it possible. Schwartz and Begley (2002) and Begley (2007) describe the six-step program in minded practices producing structural brain change in The Mind and the Brain. The authors argue for a voluntaristic framework transcending SR behaviorist approaches to behavior modification, which ignore distinctively human capacities. fMRI evidence of the structural changes in brain systems involved in OCD after patients were trained in “minded” behaviors is described.

Introduces the emerging evidence from the neurosciences and provides an account of how it is causing a learning and development practitioner to re-evaluate understanding of human diversity and therefore diversity management within organizations.

Defines neuroplasticity and identifies four of the key findings before moving on to consider what this suggests about human diversity.

Shows an application of this new knowledge to diversity management as a way of exploring how the concept of collective intelligence could lead to a transformation of this new knowledge into organizational development practices that meet the needs of all people.

Advances the view that if organizations can find a way to connect people, places and ideas in a way that generates a deeper appreciation of the value proposition inherent in human diversity, the business case will make itself.

Recognizes the need for a collective intelligence that has the “potential to liberate us from the social and political hierarchies that have stood in the way of mankind’s advancement”.

Claims that this new science of learning has the potential to create a revelation of personal constructs in a way that leads to a safe revolution in the way we view and appreciate each other.

Digital technologies have already changed the way we live and work. However, there has been limited exploration and discussion about the long term effects of such technologies on our brains and, in particular, how we think. The purpose of this paper is to address the impact of digital technologies on human thinking and behaviour and the consequential effects on the commercial qualitative research industry.

The “method” underpinning this paper is a combination of qualitative observation drawn from a wide range of client companies during more than 30 years of commercial qualitative practice and organisational change management. The approach also uses an analysis of recent publications, books, academic papers and face to face interviews with psychologists, researchers, a neuroscientist, internet games developers and users, teachers, parents and academics within this field.

Neuroscientists are discovering that digital technologies, in particular the internet, are changing the way our brains function. These findings are significant for society as a whole and for the qualitative research community. This paper explores the evidence, asks what this means for the research industry and society and what, if anything, should we be doing about it?

The implications for commercial research practitioners are highlighted including, research as a state of mind, differentiating between data and knowledge, deep thinking, acknowledging emotional and intuitive learning, developing personal resources, especially mindfulness and the importance of creative discipline.

The paper highlights the importance of retaining traditional thinking skills, whilst integrating the best and most useful aspects of “cyber‐thinking”.

Through a review of historically famous cases and a chronicle of neurotechnology development, this chapter discusses brain structure and brain function as two distinct yet interrelated paths to understand the relative contributions of anatomical and physiological mechanisms to the human brain–behavior relationship. From an organizational neuroscience perspective, the chapter describes over a dozen neuroimaging technologies that are classified under four groupings: morphologic, invasive metabolic, noninvasive metabolic, and electromagnetic. We then discuss neuroimaging variables that may be useful in social science investigations, and we underscore electroencephalography as a particularly useful modality for the study of individuals and groups in organizational settings. The chapter concludes by considering emerging science and novel brain technologies for the organizational researcher as we look to the future.