Improv, Shrooms and Neuroscience | Psychology Today Australia

caveat: This post may sound like a mushroom trip back in the day.

I try to connect improvisation, shrooms, meditation, anxiety, depression, and neuroscience.

More than a decade ago, several improvisational brain-scanning studies showed that improvisers’ brains improvise differently than they do during scripted tasks. I wrote about these studies led by Charles Lim in my first book. psychology today post.

At the time, I focused on two brain regions: the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC). In the simplest terms, the DLPFC is like your inner judge or critic, and the MPFC is connected to language and creativity.

Brain scans showed that freestyle rapping and musical improvisation increased activity in the MPFC and decreased activity in the DLPFC. I love this as a metaphor for cognitive science. Improvisation increases creativity by quieting your inner critic. It’s simple, but very meaningful.

But that’s not all.

Improv also reduces an activity called the Default Mode Network (DMN).

What is Default Mode Network?

The default mode network (DMN) is a collection of brain regions that are activated when you are ostensibly doing nothing. While zoned out or on autopilot, the DMN continues to function. This may be a good thing. Time can fly by and creativity can flourish. In fact, this can be an important part of the creative process, as when the DMN’s focus is relaxed, problems can be solved unconsciously and effortlessly.

But the fact that so many people are using the default mode of networking makes them think and worry.

Research shows DMN connectivity can lead to serious mental health concerns, including anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) .

Default mode network outage

Fortunately, the default mode network settings seem to be malleable. In addition to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, improvisation helps “quiet or ‘deactivate'” the default mode network, says Lim, one of the researchers behind the aforementioned improvisational brain-scanning study. It explains that there is a tendency. About DMN, he writes:

It is made up of a group of brain regions that are typically active when you daydream or rest. It’s your brain’s so-called “default” system. While daydreaming, you are usually thinking about yourself. We relive past events, imagine future events, and think about how we feel or have felt.

There’s a lot of ego involved, which is why reducing DMN activity seems to increase creativity. Lim explains:

Research shows that during creative moments, the brain shuts down inhibitions. To be truly creative, we need to avoid criticizing or controlling our actions and instead free ourselves to focus on the moment, no matter what mistakes we make. is.

Many of the metaphors we use to describe creativity are about dissolving the ego.

• “Get out of my head.”
• “Get out of your own way.”
• “Let go.”

Decreased activity in the DMN (and DLPFC) may be responsible for freer thinking and being.

But improvisation is not the only activity that can disrupt the default mode network.

meditation

In many ways, meditation feels like the opposite of improvisation. While there’s no banter or social interaction, meditation has also been shown to reduce DMN activation.

mushroom

Interestingly, psilocybin (the active ingredient in mushrooms) also interferes with DMN connections. As Rebecca Smaush, Joanna Neal, and John Gig explain, “Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies in humans have shown that psilocybin has been shown to be associated with increased activity within the PFC, PCC, and other regions throughout the DMN. It was found to reduce activity and significantly alter consciousness and self-awareness.”

Now, I’m not suggesting you meditate or improvise with mushrooms. What I am saying is that the link between the DMN, increased mental health disorders, and treatments that alter or disrupt DMN connections feels important. More research needs to be done to better understand the DMN, its role in our mental health, and tools to disrupt or reset it.

Take-out

In the meantime, know that the DMN is active even when your brain thinks it’s offline. Also, know that the DMN may take you to Creative Town, or it may take you to Wally Island. It doesn’t have to be the end of your story, and it doesn’t have to define you. You are not a DMN. You can change the default mode. Maybe gradually. Maybe it will last a long time. Maybe it’s some kind of vision quest triggered by mushrooms. Or maybe I meditate or improvise. Maybe that’s the key word, and for many of us 1 in 5 who suffer from mental health disorders, it might feel like it’s worth pursuing.

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