Where dose imagination come from? Understanding what happens in your brain when it produces your inner world can help you boost your imagination Unlike more specialised kinds of mental processing, there is no dedicated “imagination cortex” that shows up on brain scans. Instead, imagination is the result of inputs from all corners of the brain and throughout the body. We know that imagination doesn’t come in just one variety and isn’t experienced the same by all of us . But in recent years, neuroscientists have begun to get a clearer understanding of how the components of imagination work in the brain. Advances in scanning the active brain – specifically, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) – have revealed that it is organised into several key networks. Each shares information within its network while also keeping in touch with others. This allows the brain to switch between different “modes” of thinking by selecting the right network for the job at hand. There are three key networks involved in our imaginations. The one most associated with such thought was discovered by accident in the late 1990s, when neuroscientists noticed a distinct pattern of brain activity when research participants were left waiting in fMRI scanners between tasks. Regions of the brain associated with memory, mood and self-reflection became more active when the participants weren’t occupied by a particular task, signalling an internally focused state of mind. This became known as the default mode network (DMN), and it is in play when we let our minds wander, mull over memories, think about the future or daydream. However, the DMN isn’t the only network now known to be involved in what we think of as imagination. If the DMN’s musings are to reach conscious awareness, the brain also needs to loop in the salience network. This connects regions involved in emotion, attention and motivation, acting as a project manager, sifting through external stimuli and internal noise to determine what is significant. In terms of imagination, it is there to flag up ideas and memories that are too important, surprising or urgent to ignore. The salience network is also where inputs from the body affect imagination. The network is anchored in the insula, a part of the brain that processes bodily sensations that can be related to emotional states. When these sensations are triggered by our imagination or a memory, for example, the recollection of a frightening experience causing your heart to race, it makes our musings feel more visceral. Though the DMN and salience network can together create an experience of imagination – say, picturing the house you grew up in or the ideal combination of toppings on a pizza – as Evangelia Chrysikou, a creativity researcher at Drexel University in Pennsylvania, says: “Imagination doesn’t equal creativity.” For that, we need another network. To get creative – in the neuroscientific sense of generating original ideas that serve a purpose in the real world – the brain needs to call on the central executive network. This links frontal areas to those further back in the parietal cortex, which help direct and sustain our attention so that we can hold a goal in mind while working through possible solutions. Brain imaging studies by Chrysikou and others demonstrate that people who score better on tests of creativity have stronger connections between all three key imagination networks. This might allow them to rapidly switch back and forth between generating, noticing and evaluating ideas. So how can we encourage these systems to work together and improve our imagination? For a start, we can encourage activity in the DMN by taking time to let our mind wander. We can also physically go for a wander: a study by researchers at Stanford University in California found that a short walk increased creative idea generation by 60 per cent in the moment and for a short time afterwards. And once you are moving and imagining, try focusing your imagination on something that matters to you. The salience network makes sure that you notice changes related to the excitement of a sudden breakthrough. This means that the more you care about coming up with a solution, the more likely you are to feel it when inspiration strikes and to find the motivation to act on it.