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de Sampaio Barros MF, Stefano Filho CA, de Menezes LT, Araújo-Moreira FM, Trevelin LC, Pimentel Maia R, Radel R, Castellano G. Psycho-physio-neurological correlates of qualitative attention, emotion and flow experiences in a close-to-real-life extreme sports situation: low- and high-altitude slackline walking. PeerJ 2024; 12:e17743. [PMID: 39076780 PMCID: PMC11285370 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.17743] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2024] [Accepted: 06/24/2024] [Indexed: 07/31/2024] Open
Abstract
It has been indicated that extreme sport activities result in a highly rewarding experience, despite also providing fear, stress and anxiety. Studies have related this experience to the concept of flow, a positive feeling that individuals undergo when they are completely immersed in an activity. However, little is known about the exact nature of these experiences, and, there are still no empirical results to characterize the brain dynamics during extreme sport practice. This work aimed at investigating changes in psychological responses while recording physiological (heart rate-HR, and breathing rate-BR) and neural (electroencephalographic-EEG) data of eight volunteers, during outdoors slackline walking in a mountainous environment at two different altitude conditions (1 m-low-walk- and 45 m-high-walk-from the ground). Low-walk showed a higher score on flow scale, while high-walk displayed a higher score in the negative affect aspects, which together point to some level of flow restriction during high-walk. The order of task performance was shown to be relevant for the physiological and neural variables. The brain behavior during flow, mainly considering attention networks, displayed the stimulus-driven ventral attention network-VAN, regionally prevailing (mainly at the frontal lobe), over the goal-directed dorsal attention network-DAN. Therefore, we suggest an interpretation of flow experiences as an opened attention to more changing details in the surroundings, i.e., configured as a 'task-constantly-opened-to-subtle-information experience', rather than a 'task-focused experience'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcelo Felipe de Sampaio Barros
- Programa de Pós-graduação em Biotecnologia, Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCar), São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil
- Laboratoire LAMHESS, Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis, Nice, Côte d’Azur, France
| | - Carlos Alberto Stefano Filho
- Neurophysics Group, Gleb Wataghin Institute of Physics, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
- Brazilian Institute of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology (BRAINN), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Lucas Toffoli de Menezes
- Neurophysics Group, Gleb Wataghin Institute of Physics, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
- Brazilian Institute of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology (BRAINN), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Fernando Manuel Araújo-Moreira
- Programa de Pós-graduação em Biotecnologia, Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCar), São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil
- Programa de pós-graduação em Engenharia Nuclear, Instituto Militar de Engenharia/IME, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Luis Carlos Trevelin
- Programa de Pós-graduação em Biotecnologia, Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCar), São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil
- Departamento de Computação, Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCar), São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Rafael Pimentel Maia
- Department of Statistics, Institute of Mathematics, Statistics and Scientific Computing, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Rémi Radel
- Laboratoire LAMHESS, Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis, Nice, Côte d’Azur, France
| | - Gabriela Castellano
- Neurophysics Group, Gleb Wataghin Institute of Physics, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
- Brazilian Institute of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology (BRAINN), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
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Morganti F. Longevity as a Responsibility: Constructing Healthy Aging by Enacting within Contexts over the Entire Lifespan. Geriatrics (Basel) 2024; 9:93. [PMID: 39051257 PMCID: PMC11270264 DOI: 10.3390/geriatrics9040093] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2024] [Revised: 07/02/2024] [Accepted: 07/10/2024] [Indexed: 07/27/2024] Open
Abstract
Studying aging now requires going beyond the bio-psycho-social model and incorporating a broader multidisciplinary view capable of capturing the ultimate complexity of being human that is expressed as individuals age. Current demographic trends and the lengthening of life expectancies allow the observation of long-lived individuals in full health. These super-agers are no longer an exception. Indeed, individuals can have a good quality of life even over age 70 and living with chronic or neurodegenerative diseases. This change is driven in part by the cohort effect observed in people who are about to age today (e.g., better schooling, more advanced health conditions, and technologization) but more so by the gradual overcoming of ageist views. An aged person is no longer seen as a quitter but rather as one empowered to direct their own trajectory of potentially healthy longevity. According to this vision, this article proposes a situated lifespan perspective for the study of aging that integrates pedagogical models of developmental ecology with psychological theories of optimal experience to understand the individual motivational perspective on aging. At the same time, it does not disregard analyzing the daily and cultural contexts in which everyone situates and that guide aging trajectories. Nor does it forget that aging people are body-mind (embodied) organisms that, with contexts and through motivations, seize opportunities for action (affordances) to evolve in an optimal way during their lifespan. This theoretical reflection sheds new light on the aging process and on future trends in healthy longevity research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesca Morganti
- Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Bergamo, I-24129 Bergamo, Italy; or ; Tel.: +39-035-2052060
- CHL—Centre for Healthy Longevity, University of Bergamo, I-24129 Bergamo, Italy
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Parvizi-Wayne D, Sandved-Smith L, Pitliya RJ, Limanowski J, Tufft MRA, Friston KJ. Forgetting ourselves in flow: an active inference account of flow states and how we experience ourselves within them. Front Psychol 2024; 15:1354719. [PMID: 38887627 PMCID: PMC11182004 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1354719] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2023] [Accepted: 04/26/2024] [Indexed: 06/20/2024] Open
Abstract
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.
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Affiliation(s)
- Darius Parvizi-Wayne
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Lars Sandved-Smith
- Monash Centre for Consciousness and Contemplative Studies, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia
| | - Riddhi J. Pitliya
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- VERSES AI Research Lab, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - Jakub Limanowski
- Institute of Psychology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Miles R. A. Tufft
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Karl J. Friston
- VERSES AI Research Lab, Los Angeles, CA, United States
- Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
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Reich N, Mannino M, Kotler S. Using caffeine as a chemical means to induce flow states. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2024; 159:105577. [PMID: 38331128 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105577] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2023] [Revised: 02/01/2024] [Accepted: 02/04/2024] [Indexed: 02/10/2024]
Abstract
Flow is an intrinsically rewarding state characterised by positive affect and total task absorption. Because cognitive and physical performance are optimal in flow, chemical means to facilitate this state are appealing. Caffeine, a non-selective adenosine receptor antagonist, has been emphasized as a potential flow-inducer. Thus, we review the psychological and biological effects of caffeine that, conceptually, enhance flow. Caffeine may facilitate flow through various effects, including: i) upregulation of dopamine D1/D2 receptor affinity in reward-associated brain areas, leading to greater energetic arousal and 'wanting'; ii) protection of dopaminergic neurons; iii) increases in norepinephrine release and alertness, which offset sleep-deprivation and hypoarousal; iv) heightening of parasympathetic high frequency heart rate variability, resulting in improved cortical stress appraisal, v) modification of striatal endocannabinoid-CB1 receptor-signalling, leading to enhanced stress tolerance; and vi) changes in brain network activity in favour of executive function and flow. We also discuss the application of caffeine to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and caveats. We hope to inspire studies assessing the use of caffeine to induce flow.
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Affiliation(s)
- Niklas Reich
- Faculty of Health and Medicine, Biomedical & Life Sciences Division, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YQ, UK; The ALBORADA Drug Discovery Institute, University of Cambridge, Island Research Building, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 0AH, UK.
| | - Michael Mannino
- Flow Research Collective, USA; Miami Dade College, Miami, FL, USA
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Saway BF, Cunningham CM, Ismail M, Spiotta AM. Flow State and Neurosurgery. World Neurosurg 2024; 181:73-77. [PMID: 37839563 DOI: 10.1016/j.wneu.2023.10.038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2023] [Accepted: 10/07/2023] [Indexed: 10/17/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Brian F Saway
- Department of Neurosurgery, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, USA
| | - Conor M Cunningham
- Department of Neurosurgery, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, USA
| | - Mustafa Ismail
- College of Medicine, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq
| | - Alejandro M Spiotta
- Department of Neurosurgery, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, USA.
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