Peripheral-physiological and neural correlates of the flow experience while playing video games: a comprehensive review
Khoshnoud, S., Alvarez Igarzabal, F., & Wittmann, M. (2020). 'Peripheral-physiological and neural correlates of the flow experience while playing video games: a comprehensive review.' PeerJ, 8, e10520. the best single source for the inconsistency of the physiological literature. 38 articles retained from 215. 'Results are inconsistent when describing a unified mechanism underlying this mental state', and 'findings concerning the sympathetic and parasympathetic reflections of arousal are heterogeneous, given that both linear ... and inverted U-shaped ... associations have been reported.' Their table of sixteen peripheral-physiology studies runs from a single-participant case study to 77, with heart rate variability reported as lower in flow, higher in flow and moderate in flow by different groups. ONE POINT OF STABILITY, REPORTED HONESTLY: electrodermal activity correlates positively with flow across four studies, and it is a generic arousal index that cannot distinguish flow from any other absorbing or stressful task.
Khoshnoud, S., Alvarez Igarzabal, F., & Wittmann, M. (2020). 'Peripheral-physiological and neural correlates of the flow experience while playing video games: a comprehensive review.' PeerJ, 8, e10520. the best single source for the inconsistency of the physiological literature. 38 articles retained from 215. 'Results are inconsistent when describing a unified mechanism underlying this mental state', and 'findings concerning the sympathetic and parasympathetic reflections of arousal are heterogeneous, given that both linear ... and inverted U-shaped ... associations have been reported.' Their table of sixteen peripheral-physiology studies runs from a single-participant case study to 77, with heart rate variability reported as lower in flow, higher in flow and moderate in flow by different groups. ONE POINT OF STABILITY, REPORTED HONESTLY: electrodermal activity correlates positively with flow across four studies, and it is a generic arousal index that cannot distinguish flow from any other absorbing or stressful task.
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Khoshnoud, S., Alvarez Igarzabal, F., & Wittmann, M. (2020). Peripheral-physiological and neural correlates of the flow experience while playing video games: a comprehensive review. PeerJ, 8, e10520.