van der Linden Dimitri, Tops Mattie, Bakker Arnold B
Department of Psychology, Education, and Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Developmental and Educational Psychology Unit, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands.
Front Psychol. 2021 Apr 14;12:645498. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.645498. eCollection 2021.
Flow is a state of full task engagement that is accompanied with low-levels of self-referential thinking. Flow is considered highly relevant for human performance and well-being and has, therefore, been studied extensively. Yet, the neurocognitive processes of flow remain largely unclear. In the present mini-review we focus on how the brain's locus coeruleus-norepinephrine (LC-NE) system may be involved in a range of behavioral and subjective manifestations of flow. The LC-NE system regulates decisions regarding task engagement vs. disengagement. This is done different modes of baseline and stimulus-evoked norepinephrine release. We emphasize the theoretical and empirical overlap between the LC-NE system and flow. For both, a match between a person's skill and task challenge is important in order to induce high levels task-related attention. Moreover, psychophysiological indicators of LC-NE system activity, such as eye pupil diameter and arousal are also sensitive to flow states. Flow is related to arousal in an inverted U-shape. Similarly, in theories on the LC-NE system, task engagement is highest with intermediate levels of arousal. We argue that knowledge about the role of the LC-NE system in establishing the flow experience may help to gain fundamental knowledge of flow and can contribute to unifying various empirical findings on this topic.
心流是一种全身心投入任务的状态，伴随着低水平的自我参照思维。心流被认为与人类表现和幸福感高度相关，因此受到了广泛研究。然而，心流的神经认知过程在很大程度上仍不明确。在本综述中，我们关注大脑的蓝斑-去甲肾上腺素（LC-NE）系统如何参与心流的一系列行为和主观表现。LC-NE系统调节关于任务参与与脱离的决策。这是通过基线和刺激诱发的去甲肾上腺素释放的不同模式来完成的。我们强调LC-NE系统与心流之间的理论和实证重叠。对于两者而言，一个人的技能与任务挑战之间的匹配对于诱导高水平的与任务相关的注意力很重要。此外，LC-NE系统活动的心理生理指标，如瞳孔直径和唤醒水平，对心流状态也很敏感。心流与唤醒呈倒U形关系。同样，在关于LC-NE系统的理论中，任务参与在中等唤醒水平时最高。我们认为，了解LC-NE系统在建立心流体验中的作用可能有助于获得心流的基础知识，并有助于统一关于该主题的各种实证研究结果。
