Your Brain’s Next Greatest Hit
What’s actually happening in your brain when you crack the concept line, nail the brand voice, or come up with a tagline so good your Slack #channel explodes?
Turns out, creativity isn’t magic—it’s music.
Creativity is a neural symphony—your brain’s default mode network improvises, your executive control network refines, and neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin set the tempo.
Understanding that interplay can help you stay in flow, especially when you’re trying to solve five problems on a tight deadline (while also clearing your mental workspace of everything from the last client call.)
Meet the Band: The Brain’s Two Creative Power Players
1. The Default Mode Network (DMN):
The Improvisor: inward-focused, imaginative, nonlinear
The Default Mode Network is your inner improviser—unfiltered, unexpected, and usually off doing its own thing until the spotlight hits.
It’s the system in your brain that’s tossing weird metaphors at the wall when you’re zoning out during a long strategy meeting, scribbling ideas that “probably won’t work”, or making strange but brilliant connections between pop culture, user behavior, and your client’s mission.
Interestingly, the DMN activates when you’re not actively focused. It’s where unexpected insights come from. It can’t be rushed or forced– just given space to do its thing.
Neurological Areas: DMN involves the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), inferior parietal lobule, and hippocampus, areas of the brain responsible for self-reflection, sensory information, deep memory, and abstract thinking.
Function Summary: Daydreaming, creative ideation, autobiographical memory, imagining the future, free association
Figure 1. The Default Mode Network (column A on left) is your nonlinear, improvisational brain areas, and your Executive Control Network (column B on right) include your goal-driven, categorizating areas. Image courtesy of Zhang et al., 2019 (see full citation below).
2. Executive Control Network (ECN):
The Leader: outward-focused, goal-driven, evaluative
This system provides your brain structure. It keeps time. It categorizes. It determines which ideas are worth pursuing and then puts in the effort and focus to refine them.
Neurological areas: ECN involves the dorsolateral prefrontal, anterior cingulate, and posterior parietal cortices, areas of your brain responsible for working memory, decision making, error detection, emotional regulation, spatial awareness, and focused attention.
Function Summary: Planning, judgment, editing, task management, evaluating ideas for coherence and usefulness
3. Creative Idea Generation:
Activates 10+ distinct brain regions, across both hemispheres, involving memory, imagination, emotion and evaluation.
The Neurochemical Soundtrack
Even the best band needs the right tech crew. Cue your creative neurotransmitters.
Dopamine = Your Personal Hype DJ
Dopamine drives motivation and risk-taking—essential for pitching bold ideas or pushing past safe work.
When dopamine’s flowing, you’re more likely to chase down a new angle, jump into a brainstorm, or send that “what if we…” email.
Creative professionals often thrive on novelty, and it turns out dopamine plays a big role in that tendency to explore, remix, and surprise.
Serotonin = Your Emotional Bassline
Serotonin supports cognitive flexibility and emotional resilience—crucial when your idea gets killed or a client pivots mid-campaign.
It helps you keep going, shift gears, and not spiral when things get chaotic.
Together, dopamine and serotonin help you start, stick with it, and stay steady enough to get to the gold.
Brain Tech on the Horizon?
Researchers are experimenting with new ways of harnessing this neurological understanding to optimize creative AND productivity:
TDCS (transcranial direct current stimulation): mild electrical current applied to boost activity in idea-generating or editing regions of the brain
TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation): magnetic pulses that enhance divergent thinking, problem-solving, and flexibility
Still early days—but imagine a future where you could give your brain a creative warm-up like you do your coffee.
Summary Points
Your brain has its own internal jam session:
The DMN improvises.
The ECN refines.
Dopamine and serotonin run the emotional soundboard.
Creativity at work isn’t about “being a genius on demand”—it’s about setting the stage for the right kind of brain chemistry to show up when it counts.
Back to You
Next time you’re stuck in a concept loop or hitting post-lunch idea fatigue:
Step away from the doc. Literally.
Change your environment (mood shift = network shift).
Block 10 minutes to write the worst version of your idea—then see what surprises you.
Or throw the brief to your subconscious and let the DMN do its thing while you answer emails or go for a walk.
You might be surprised at the clarity you have when you sit back down at your desk.
Your best ideas aren’t always the loudest. Sometimes they just need the space to play.
Keep jamming. We’ll be tuning in :)
~The Playstorming Lab
“The creative act is not the province of remote oracles or rare geniuses but a transparent process that is open to everyone.”
Citations:
Gold, S. (2023, May 29). The neuroscience behind creativity. Pilgrim Soul. https://www.pilgrimsoul.com/home/the-neuroscience-behind-creativity
Saggar, M., Quintin, E.-M., Kienitz, E., Bott, N. T., Sun, Z., Hong, D. W.-C., & Reiss, A. L. (2015). Pictionary-based fMRI paradigm to study the neural correlates of spontaneous improvisation and figural creativity. Scientific Reports, 5, Article 10894.
Image: Zhang, R., Geng, X., & Lee, T. M. C. (2019). Large-scale functional neural network correlates of response inhibition: An fMRI meta-analysis. NeuroImage, 200, 125–142.