Physiological assessment of the psychological flow state using wearable devices.

Abstract

Flow is the state of optimal experience which can lead to outstanding performance. Our study demonstrates the feasibility of detecting and monitoring flow using wearable devices. Twenty-eight Hungarian adults participated in the experiment. They played a game at different levels to induce flow and anti-flow states, which was tested with questionnaires. We measured electroencephalography (EEG), heart rate (HR), blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) and galvanic skin response (GSR) signals as well as head and hand motion. We isolated EEG delta, theta, alpha and beta band power, HR, SpO2 and GSR average and standard deviation, as well as acceleration and angular velocity standard deviation. In flow condition, alpha and theta power were the dominant components, in accordance with the transient hypofrontality hypothesis. We also replicated the U-shaped characteristic of the heart rate variability; in addition, we propose an inverse U-shaped and a U-shaped characteristic for SpO2 and SpO2 variability, respectively. On the basis of motion tracking, subjects were the least physically active in flow, signifying a focused state, and the most active in boredom. Our results support the applicability of lightweight, wearable devices for monitoring mental state that can be utilized to improve well-being at work or in everyday situations.