Jan 29, 2026 · 35 min
Voluntary play biologically rewires the adult brain to enhance cognitive function
Essentials: Using Play to Rewire & Improve Your Brain
Understanding the biological mechanisms of play allows adults to intentionally leverage play-based behaviors to improve brain plasticity and executive function.
- 1Voluntary play triggers neuroplasticity by activating the periaqueductal gray and releasing endogenous opioids like enkephalin.
- 2Engaging in play-based behaviors directly stimulates the prefrontal cortex to improve essential executive functions.
- 3Adults can leverage play as a practical protocol to enhance cognitive flexibility and daily self-control.
The brief
Play is not just a recreational activity for children; it is a powerful biological driver that actively reshapes the adult brain. Stanford neurobiologist Andrew Huberman explains how voluntary play triggers neuroplasticity and alters neural circuitry.
Engaging in play activates the periaqueductal gray, a brain region critical for motivated behavior, and stimulates the release of endogenous opioids like enkephalin. This chemical release helps regulate pain and emotional responses during novel activities.
The neurological impact of play extends directly to the prefrontal cortex. By stimulating this region, play-based behaviors help enhance executive function, improving cognitive flexibility, working memory, and daily self-control.
What was said on this episode
23 statements · 17 positive · 2 negative · 4 neutral
Play triggers endogenous opioid release.
“Play evokes small amounts of opioid release into the system”
Listen at 1:28
Play-related endogenous opioids improve prefrontal-cortex flexibility.
“when the periaqueductal gray releases these endogenous opioids during play, the prefrontal cortex doesn't get stupid. It actually gets smarter.”
Listen at 2:10
Play expands the range of outcomes people can consider.
“play is really where we can expand our catalog of potential outcomes and it can be enormously enriching.”
Listen at 3:03
Creative and socially rich people tend to have a strong element of play.
“the tinkerers of the world, the true creatives, the people that build incredible technologies and art, and also that just have incredibly rich emotional and intellectual and social lives, all have a strong element of play.”
Listen at 3:12
Play enables low-stakes exploration of different outcomes.
“play allows children, and adults for that matter, to explore different outcomes in a kind of low stakes environment.”
Listen at 3:55
Play is contingency testing conducted under sufficiently low stakes.
“play is contingency testing under conditions where the stakes are sufficiently low”
Listen at 4:06
Low-stakes unfamiliar activities can activate prefrontal-cortex circuits.
“a small increase in your willingness to put yourself into conditions where you don't understand all the rules, perhaps, or you're not super proficient at something, but you enter it because it is low stakes and because there is information to learn about yourself and others could start to open up these prefrontal cortex circuits.”
Listen at 7:46
Play increases prefrontal-cortex plasticity.
“play is powerful at making your prefrontal cortex more plastic, more able to change in response to experience”
Listen at 8:34
Play-related prefrontal plasticity extends beyond the play activity.
“but not just during the period of play, but in all scenarios”
Listen at 8:41
Humans universally signal play with an eyes-open head tilt.
“The head tilt with eyes open is considered the universal head and facial expression posture of play in humans.”
Listen at 9:50
Play contributes to adult identity development.
“there are different forms of play that help us establish who we will become as adults.”
Listen at 14:33
Excess adrenaline tends to inhibit play.
“any sorts of drugs or behaviors or scenarios that increase levels of adrenaline too much will tend to inhibit play”
Listen at 18:35
Increased endogenous opioid output tends to increase playfulness.
“drugs and scenarios, and I'm not suggesting recreational drugs here, but these were experiments that were done in the laboratory setting that increase the endogenous opioid output will tend to increase playfulness.”
Listen at 18:46
High-stakes competitive situations do not engage play circuitry.
“if you are very, very concerned about the outcome, like you've put a lot of money on the table in a given, or you're a football player in the super bowl, or you're playing a game for which you know defeating the other person or your team winning is absolutely crucial to you, well, then that's not really going to engage the play circuitry.”
Listen at 19:38
Playfulness enables peak performance.
“the state of playfulness is actually what allows you to perform best.”
Listen at 20:23
Playing with new groups supports ongoing brain learning and adaptation.
“forms of play that involve new groups of individuals. This is the way that your brain learns and evolves and changes and gets better.”
Listen at 20:54
Play-like developmental practices can engage neuroplasticity at any age.
“if you really want to engage neuroplasticity at any age, what you need to do is return to the same sorts of practices and tools that your nervous system naturally used throughout development”
Listen at 21:19
Play is the most powerful route to neuroplasticity.
“play is the most powerful portal to plasticity.”
Listen at 21:51
Dynamic, multidirectional movement appears to promote neuroplasticity.
“things like dance or sports, where you end up generating a lot of dynamic movements, where there's jumping, where there's movement at different angles, where there's ducking, where there's leaping, that basically involve a lot of dynamic movement and aren't just strictly linear, those seem to open the portals for plasticity.”
Listen at 26:57
Dynamic play involving varied speeds and directions engages play-related circuitry.
“engaging in a play that has a lot of dynamic movement or movements of different speeds, things like dance, things like sports, like soccer, where you're moving in different dimensions, that tends to be very conducive to what we would call play related circuitry”
Listen at 27:53
Chess requires players to assume multiple identities during one game.
“each player actually has to assume Multiple identities during the same game”
Listen at 29:04
Exercise is not the only route to neuroplasticity.
“This is actually a way in which I start to depart from this modern and important but somewhat narrow idea that exercise is the only route to plasticity.”
Listen at 29:47
Play-related brain circuits persist from development into adulthood.
“We have brain circuits from back to front and within our body that are there for play. And they don't disappear, they do not get pruned away as we go from development to adulthood.”
Listen at 34:03
Statements are attributed to the speaker as said on the episode and reflect their view at the time, not PodLume's. They are not advice.