AEP of the task-irrelevant beeps (randomly presented) measured - AEP activation: non-flow - AEP suppression: flow

Neural correlates of “flow” Kyongsik Yun1, Saeran Doh2, Elisa Carrus1, Shinsuke Shimojo1

1Computation and Neural Systems, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 2Department of Food Business Management, Miyagi University, Miyagi, Japan, yunks@caltech.edu

763.01 GGG43

Introduction

-  EEG during a first-person-shooting computer game

-  Distinguished the flow state using objective and subjective criteria: (1) suppression of the AEP (2) self-reported, retrospective flow ratings (every 5min)

-  Localized the neural correlates of flow -  Characterized effective connectivity between

those regions from the EEG data

Methods

Experimental procedure

Substantial attenuation of the AEP amplitude only during the flow period

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the temporal pole (TP) found as the core brain areas involved in flow

Functional connectivity increased during the flow state

Detected the mental state of “flow” using 1.  Objective measure (AEP suppression) 2.  Subjective measure (flow ratings) Found correlations between 1.  Flow ratings 2.  Behavioral performance 3.  Neural activity (TP, ACC, M1)

Conclusions

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Further information

A significant positive correlation was found between the overall occurrence of the flow experience and the performance distribution throughout the game play (Pearson’s correlation, R=0.68, p=0.014)

Time-frequency analyses of auditory evoked activity during (A) flow and (B) non-flow state. The non-flow trials showed significant evoked potential activation and the flow trials showed significant evoked potential suppression (channels Fz and Pz; nonparametric permutation test, p<0.05). The vertical line represents the onset of the beep.

(A)  Source localization (sLORETA) showing the contrast of flow state minus non-flow state for the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) (x=-6, y=25, z=21),

(B)  temporal pole (TP) (x=-55, y=10, z=-25) and (C)  the flow minus non-flow contrast for beginners

minus experts in the precentral gyrus (M1) (x=15, y=-20, z=70) (non-parametric permutation test, red: p<0.05, yellow: p<0.01).

Correlation between the behavioral flow ratings and source localized EEG activity. For the (A) temporal pole (TP), (B) anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and (C) primary motor cortex (M1).

Effective connectivity using PDC between regions of interest, including anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), temporal pole (TP), and primary motor (M1) cortex.

The higher the experience of flow, the better the gaming performance

Flow : “In the zone” mental state (e.g., skilled game players and professional athletes) -> Interesting psychological concept Problem? -  Hard to quantify because of its subjective nature Solution? -  Devised a method to objectively quantify the

subjective flow experience using auditory evoked potential (AEP) suppression

Hypothesis -  In the flow state, AEP of the task-irrelevant

beeps would be suppressed What we did -  Detected the flow state in skilled game players

and investigated the underlying brain dynamics

Flow Non-flow

ACC

TP

M1

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0.13

0.22 0.22

0.15

0.17