Durcan Oliver, Holland Peter, Bhattacharya Joydeep
Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths University of London, London, UK.
Commun Psychol. 2024 Jul 18;2(1):66. doi: 10.1038/s44271-024-00115-3.
Csikszentmihalyi's concept of the "flow state" was initially discovered in experts deeply engaged in self-rewarding activities. However, recent neurophysiology research often measures flow in constrained and unfamiliar activities. In this perspective article, we address the challenging yet necessary considerations for studying flow state's neurophysiology. We aggregate an activity-autonomy framework with several testable hypotheses to induce flow, expanding the traditional "challenge skill balance" paradigm. Further, we review and synthesise the best methodological practices from neurophysiological flow studies into a practical 24-item checklist. This checklist offers detailed guidelines for ensuring consistent reporting, personalising and testing isolated challenge types, factoring in participant skills, motivation, and individual differences, and processing self-report data. We argue for a cohesive approach in neurophysiological studies to capture a consistent representation of flow states.
奇克森特米哈伊的“心流状态”概念最初是在深度参与自我奖励活动的专家身上发现的。然而，最近的神经生理学研究常常在受限且不熟悉的活动中测量心流。在这篇观点文章中，我们阐述了研究心流状态神经生理学所面临的具有挑战性但又必要的考量因素。我们将一个活动自主性框架与几个可检验的诱导心流的假设相结合，扩展了传统的“挑战-技能平衡”范式。此外，我们回顾并综合了神经生理学心流研究中最佳的方法实践，形成了一份实用的24项清单。这份清单提供了详细的指导方针，以确保一致的报告、个性化以及对孤立挑战类型的测试，考虑参与者的技能、动机和个体差异，以及处理自我报告数据。我们主张在神经生理学研究中采用一种连贯的方法，以捕捉心流状态的一致表征。
