We are all familiar with the feeling of being “in the groove” or “in the zone,” where all of our energy and focus is absorbed in a task or activity, resulting in peak performance. This elusive state of flow or “flow state,” as it is officially termed, is difficult to reliably achieve. As such, it has garnered increased attention from the scientific community in recent years [1] to understand the phenomenon and its implications for performance and expertise across a range of diverse fields.
In this article, we will explore the current definition and understanding of what a flow state is, the physiology underpinning it, and how to achieve a flow state on demand using brain training methods.
What is a Flow State?
The origin of the term “flow state” came about from the work of Hungarian-American psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the 1970s. In interview sessions, people described their flow experiences as "like being carried along by a current" using water as an appropriate metaphor.
Flow experience is a state of effortless involvement in the task, suspension of self-reflective thoughts, and intrinsic motivation when engaged in an activity whose demands are appropriately matched to one’s level of ability or skillset [2]. It is characterized by complete engagement and deep immersion in a task at hand and is highly recognized for its positive psychology [3].
There are nine components associated with the flow state experience [1,4]:
- Clear goals (expectations and rules are discernible, and goals are attainable and align appropriately with one’s skill set and abilities).
- A high level of concentration and a high degree of concentration on a limited field of attention (a person engaged in the activity will have the opportunity to focus and delve deeply into it).
- A lack of self-consciousness, the merging of action and awareness.
- A distorted sense of time where one’s subjective experience of time is altered.
- Clear and immediate feedback (successes and failures in the course of the activity are apparent so that behavior can be adjusted as needed).
- A balance between level of skill and level of challenge (the activity is neither too easy nor too difficult).
- A sense of control over the situation or activity.
- The activity is intrinsically rewarding, so there is an effortlessness of action.
- People become so absorbed in their activity, and the focus of awareness is narrowed down.
The modern workplace is replete with distractions, from emails and text messages to meetings, that all result in a reduction of productivity [1]. However, a 10-year longitudinal study showed that people in flow states were 500% more productive. These impressive statistics illustrate the value of flow for business with applications elsewhere in sports and the creative arts, to name a few.
Flow State Physiology and Future Research
Research on flow from the previous decade has used a variety of cutting-edge tools, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), to attempt to understand the brain regions and mechanisms involved in the flow experience.
At a neural level, the key mediating brain regions in this mental state appear to be the amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex [2,5]. Under experimental conditions, both of these brain structures exhibit robustly decreased activation under flow relative to control, and this pattern significantly predicted the degree of subjective flow experience [6-8].
At the University of Ulm in Germany, the demands of arithmetic tasks were automatically and continuously adjusted to the individual skill level to induce flow [8]. Compared to conditions of boredom and overload, the experience of flow was evident from individuals' reported subjective experiences of flow and changes in electrodermal activity. Neural activation was relatively increased during flow, particularly in the anterior insula, inferior frontal gyri, basal ganglia, and midbrain. Relative activation decreases during flow were observed in the medial prefrontal, posterior cingulate cortex, and medial temporal lobe, including the amygdala.
It has been proposed that dopaminergic and noradrenergic systems mediate intrinsic motivation and activate mood states that are typical for the flow state of mind [9]. The interaction between three large‐scale attentional networks, namely the Default Mode Network, Central Executive Network, and the Salience Network, is proposed to play a role in strong task engagement, low self‐referential thinking, feedback, and feelings of control in flow. Additionally, the task-positive network of the brain is activated when we are attentive, focusing on a given task, and using short-term memory. It is therefore implicated in entering and triggering flow.
Methods to Reliably Achieve Flow State
Flow proves to be a beneficial state when experts act in challenging situations. Support comes from flow research showing that the flow experience predicts cognitive and athletic performance outcomes, for instance [10]. However, although athletes are reportedly able to control flow frequency and quality at least to some degree, flow states seem to occur very rarely, leaving accessible performance potential "on the table" [11,12].
Early research work has targeted the medial prefrontal cortex given its proposed role in the flow experience, using tDCS as the intervention tool to reach the flow state [2]. However, individual differences in brain connectivity at baseline seem to be a major confounding factor at present and warrant further study [13]. Individual differences in the ease with which to experience flow do exist and have been associated with dopamine receptor availability in the dorsal striatum, a region important for reward processing and intrinsic motivation [10,14,15].
Studies on flow have investigated the role of frontal-midline theta neurofeedback training as a method of enhancing flow experience alongside motor performance in a finger-tapping task [10]. Participants who were able to successfully upregulate their theta activity during neurofeedback training (i.e., responders) showed better motor performance and flow experience after training than participants who did not enhance their theta activity (i.e., non-responders). Across all participants, an increase in theta activity during training was associated with motor performance enhancement from pre-test to post-test irrespective of pre-training performance. Interestingly, theta training gains were also linked to the increase of flow experience, even when corresponding increases in motor performance were controlled for.
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Summary
Despite the research being in its infancy in terms of the mechanistic basis for flow experience, we have explored what a flow state is and its neurological underpinnings. We have also described two methods that are proposed to enhance the flow experience. A greater understanding of flow and how to achieve it will be of vital importance for many realms of human performance, be it in business, sports, music, and the arts.
References
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