The link between flow and performance is moderated by task experience

Forgetting ourselves in flow: an active inference account of flow states and how we experience ourselves within them

Flow has been described as a state of optimal performance, experienced universally across a broad range of domains: from art to athletics, gaming to writing. However, its phenomenal characteristics can, at first glance, be puzzling. Firstly, individuals in flow supposedly report a loss of self-awareness, even though they perform in a manner which seems to evince their agency and skill. Secondly, flow states are felt to be effortless, despite the prerequisite complexity of the tasks that engender them. In this paper, we unpick these features of flow, as well as others, through the active inference framework, which posits that action and perception are forms of active Bayesian inference directed at sustained self-organisation; i.e., the minimisation of variational free energy. We propose that the phenomenology of flow is rooted in the deployment of high precision weight over (i) the expected sensory consequences of action and (ii) beliefs about how action will sequentially unfold. This computational mechanism thus draws the embodied cognitive system to minimise the ensuing (i.e., expected) free energy through the exploitation of the pragmatic affordances at hand. Furthermore, given the challenging dynamics the flow-inducing situation presents, attention must be wholly focussed on the unfolding task whilst counterfactual planning is restricted, leading to the attested loss of the sense of self-as-object. This involves the inhibition of both the sense of self as a temporally extended object and higher-order, meta-cognitive forms of self-conceptualisation. Nevertheless, we stress that self-awareness is not entirely lost in flow. Rather, it is pre-reflective and bodily. Our approach to bodily-action-centred phenomenology can be applied to similar facets of seemingly agentive experience beyond canonical flow states, providing insights into the mechanisms of so-called selfless experiences, embodied expertise and wellbeing.

Investigating the Effect of Task Type and Modality on Flow Experience Among Intermediate Persian EFL Learners

The merits of the application of flow theory in foreign language teaching have been demonstrated in recent research. This experimental study was aimed at investigating the role of task type and modality in the perception of flow experience by learners as they are engaged in communication tasks. The participants were 78 non-English major university students at an intermediate level of proficiency based on the result of the Oxford quick proficiency test. To do so, the flow experience perceived by 39 dyads while performing information-gap and jigsaw tasks through three modes of communication, i.e. audio-synchronous computer-mediated communication, text-based synchronous computer-mediated communication, and face-to-face communication, was assessed using the short flow scale questionnaire (Martin and Jackson in Motiv Emot, 32(3):141-157, 2008) and task specific flow scale questionnaire (Czimmermann and Piniel in Positive psychology in SLA, 193-214, 2016. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781783095360-009 ). To examine the role of task type and modality in flow experience perceived by the participants, the mixed between-within subject's ANOVA test was run for each task in different pair categories. The results indicated that in all three modalities, the jigsaw task induced more flow than the information gap task did. Moreover, in both tasks, Text-SCMC modality aroused less flow than that in either of F2F and Audio-SCMC modalities as perceived by the interlocutors. Hence, no interaction between task type and modality was observed regarding their impact on the perception of flow experience. The findings of the study could provide implications for second language acquisition and instruction.

Psychometric analysis of the flow short scale translated to Finnish

Flow is a well-known construct describing the experience of deep absorption in a task, typically demanding but intrinsically motivating, and conducted with high skill. Flow is operationalized by self-report, and various instruments have been developed for this, but none have been made available in the Finnish language in thoroughly validated form. We present a psychometric scale-validation study for the Finnish translation of the Flow Short Scale (FSS). We collected data from 201 Finnish speaking participants using the Prolific Academic platform. We assessed the scale's factorial structure using Mokken scale analysis, Parallel Analysis, Very Simple Structures analysis and a standard Confirmatory Factor Analysis. We then evaluated how correlated was the FSS with the Flow State Scale and Flow Core Scale. Finally, we evaluated how well the FSS distinguished Flow-inducing experiences from boring (non-Flow-inducing) experiences. Taken together, our results show that an 8-item, two-factor version of the scale was a justified instrument with good psychometric properties.

When telecommuters are willing to be good soldiers during COVID-19

COVID-19 pandemic can be regarded as a game changer, it has changed the way people work or live. How has the telecommuter's psychology changed under coronavirus? Accordingly, this study contributes to clarify the relationships among telecommuter's organizational citizenship behavior, happiness, work-family conflict, and job performance under COVID-19. The first purpose of present study is to evaluate the impacts of telecommuter's organizational citizenship behavior. To explore the roles of happiness and work-family conflict, the second purpose is to explore the relationships among the organizational citizenship behavior, happiness, and work-family conflict. In addition, the influences of telecommuter's happiness and work-family conflict on job performance deserve further consideration. To assess the applicability of this conceptual model, this study develops a questionnaire and distributed it to a sample consisted of telecommuters of firms. The statistical techniques adopt contain descriptive statistics, factor analysis, reliability analysis, structural equation modeling (SEM), and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). Based on the empirical analyses, telecommuter's extra-role organizational citizenship behavior enhances in-role job performance, telecommuter's organizational citizenship also associates with happiness and work-family conflict. Both happiness and work-family conflict associate with the job performance. In addition, there are three causal configurations found to be sufficient for high job performance.

Authentic Leadership and Employee Resilience: A Moderated Mediation Analysis

Authentic leadership is essential for predicting employee resilience. However, despite fruitful findings, more adapted models of authentic leadership - employee resilience based on empirical findings can serve as a guide to understand the complex mediators and moderators in different industries such as in construction engineering project organizations during the turbulent pandemic. This study, therefore, based on the organizational identification theory and flow theory through the lens of positive organizational psychology, aims to disentangle the authentic leadership-employee resilience association by investigating their underlying mechanism and their boundary condition. To test our hypothetical model, we applied a cross-sectional design with data collected from a large sample of 884 employees from a big enterprise in China. Findings from confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling analysis, and Hayes's conditional process model indicated that: authentic leadership positively predicted employee resilience through the partial mediation effect of organizational identification, and such a mediation model was moderated by the experience of flow. In other words, flow moderated the relationships between authentic leadership, organizational identification, and employee resilience. Findings provide evidence for cultivating leaders' authenticity in promoting their subordinates' resilience; findings also highlight the significance of organizational identification in bridging authentic leadership and employee resilience and the essential role of flow experience in supporting the relationships mentioned above.

Achieving Flow: An Exploratory Investigation of Elite College Athletes and Musicians

While studies on the characteristics of flow states and their relation to peak performance exist, little is known about the dynamics by which flow states emerge and develop over time. The current paper qualitatively explores the necessary pre-conditions to enter flow, and the development of flow over time until its termination. Using an elicitation interview, participants (10 athletes and 12 musicians) were asked to recall their flow experiences in sports or music performances. The analysis resulted in the identification of the following three phases that athletes and musicians experience during flow: (1) Preparation to enter flow; (2) Entry into the flow state and; (3) Exit from the flow state. These three phases are characterized by several sub-themes contributing to the experience of flow. The function of emotions is crucial, as they play a core role across all three phases and regulate flow over time. The findings provide insights into the phenomenological characteristics of the transition and maintenance of the three proposed phases and the temporal dynamics of flow.

Quantitative influence and performance analysis of virtual reality laparoscopic surgical training system

BACKGROUND

Virtual reality (VR) surgery training has become a trend in clinical education. Many research papers validate the effectiveness of VR-based surgical simulators in training medical students. However, most existing articles employ subjective methods to study the residents' surgical skills improvement. Few of them investigate how to improve the surgery skills on specific dimensions substantially.

METHODS

Our paper resorts to physiological approaches to objectively study the quantitative influence and performance analysis of VR laparoscopic surgical training system for medical students. Fifty-one participants were recruited from a pool of medical students. They conducted four pre and post experiments in the training box. They were trained on VR-based laparoscopic surgery simulators (VRLS) in the middle of pre and post experiments. Their operation and physiological data (heart rate and electroencephalogram) are recorded during the pre and post experiments. The physiological data is used to compute cognitive load and flow experience quantitatively. Senior surgeons graded their performance using newly designed hybrid standards for fundamental tasks and Global operative assessment of laparoscopic skills (GOALS) standards for colon resection tasks. Finally, the participants were required to fill the questionnaires about their cognitive load and flow experience.

RESULTS

After training on VRLS, the time of the experimental group to complete the same task could drop sharply (p < 0.01). The performance scores are enhanced significantly (p < 0.01). The performance and cognitive load computed from EEG are negatively correlated (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

The results show that the VRLS could highly improve medical students' performance and enable the participants to obtain flow experience with a lower cognitive load. Participants' performance is negatively correlated with cognitive load through quantitative physiological analysis. This might provide a new way of assessing skill acquirement.