FYV #47 - Cognitive Load in the Courtroom: How to Give Jurors a Fighting Chance
Foster Your Voice Podcast with Kristi Foster
Release Date: 12/01/2025
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Foster Your Voice Podcast with Kristi Foster
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Foster Your Voice Podcast with Kristi Foster
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Foster Your Voice Podcast with Kristi Foster
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Foster Your Voice Podcast with Kristi Foster
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Foster Your Voice Podcast with Kristi Foster
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Foster Your Voice Podcast with Kristi Foster
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Foster Your Voice Podcast with Kristi Foster
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Foster Your Voice Podcast with Kristi Foster
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FYV #47 - Cognitive Load in the Courtroom: How to Give Jurors a Fighting Chance
Foster Your Voice Podcast with Kristi Foster
Jurors don’t get real breaks. Not mentally, not emotionally, and certainly not socially. In this episode, we explore how cognitive fatigue shows up inside the courtroom and why even small, intentional pauses in your delivery can dramatically improve juror engagement and listening stamina. You’ll learn how micro-pauses, grounded transitions, and light moments of levity create essential “brain rest” for jurors—without derailing your momentum or weakening your command of the room. This episode reframes pauses from something to fear into one of your most strategic storytelling tools....
info_outlineJurors don’t get real breaks. Not mentally, not emotionally, and certainly not socially. In this episode, we explore how cognitive fatigue shows up inside the courtroom and why even small, intentional pauses in your delivery can dramatically improve juror engagement and listening stamina. You’ll learn how micro-pauses, grounded transitions, and light moments of levity create essential “brain rest” for jurors—without derailing your momentum or weakening your command of the room. This episode reframes pauses from something to fear into one of your most strategic storytelling tools.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
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Why jurors hit cognitive overload faster than you think
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How micro-pauses reduce mental fatigue and increase retention
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What unpolished moments (tech adjustments, flipcharts, transitions) actually do for juror focus
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How to avoid turning those moments into emotional labor for the jury
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A real example from Perkins v. Wabash National Corp. showing how a simple instruction recalibrated the room
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The difference between light, authentic levity and “trying to be funny”
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How pauses act as learning tools—not performance weaknesses
Key Takeaway
Jurors need mental breaks far more often than you realize—and your delivery can either drain their energy or strategically replenish it.
Silence, breath, small transitions, and grounded moments give jurors the reset they need to stay with you, understand you, and remember what you said.
Favorite Moment
When the attorney in Perkins v. Wabash National Corp. asked jurors to take out their notepads and write down acronyms, giving them ten seconds of internal focus—and how even watching it later created a noticeable sense of ease and recalibration.
Links to Share in Show Notes:
Kyle Cox on autheticity vs performance — https://www.instagram.com/reel/DPq1ksmjm_1/?igsh=cXhwMGI0YW92bHFn
FYV #25 - What Jurors Really Need from You: Time — https://www.fostervoicestudio.com/blog/25
**FREE CHEAT SHEET**
Top 20 Legal Terms to Avoid (and what to say instead)
https://www.fostervoicestudio.com/top20
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