ArticlePeerJ2020
Peripheral-physiological and neural correlates of the flow experience while playing video games: a comprehensive review.
Article in PeerJ, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed.
- Effect of Video Games on Cognitive Performance and Problem-Solving Ability in the Aged with Cognitive Dysfunction: A Randomized Clinical Trial.Iranian journal of medical sciences · 2025Trial
- Spatiotemporal Dynamics of the Flow Experience: An EEG Microstate Analysis.Brain topography · 2026Article
- When Challenge Turns into Threat at the Chessboard: Cardiovascular Reactivity and Flow Across Two Hours of Task Performance.Applied psychophysiology and biofeedback · 2026Article
- Tracking Flow in Real Time: Continuous Measurement of Game-Induced Flow in Virtual Reality.Psychophysiology · 2026Article
- The effectiveness of serious games for training of attention and executive functions: a systematic review.Frontiers in child and adolescent psychiatry · 2026Review
- Monitoring cognition in multiple sclerosis via adaptive smartphone games-first insights from a validation study.Frontiers in digital health · 2026Article
- Video games as stimuli in neuroimaging studies: a minireview.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Review
- Modelling the Balance Axiom in Flow Theory: A Physiological and Computational Approach in STEAM Education.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The relationship between physical activity levels and depressive symptoms: a mediation analysis of flow state in university students.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- Shielding the Mind With Flow: Attention Allocation and Auditory Event-Related Potentials Under Varying Mental Workload.The European journal of neuroscience · 2025Review
- CoGames: Development of an adaptive smartphone-based and gamified monitoring tool for cognitive function in Multiple Sclerosis.Journal of neurology · 2025Observational
- Subjective Time in Ordinary and Non-ordinary States of Consciousness: How Interoceptive Feelings Inform Us About the Passage of Time.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2025Review
- Gaming through the pain: psychological flow and self-efficacy amid musculoskeletal challenges in eSports.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- The flow experience: Polish adaptation and validation of the psychological flow scale (PFS).PloS one · 2025Article
- The impact of relevant versus irrelevant media multitasking on academic performance during online learning: a serial of mediating models.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- A framework for neurophysiological experiments on flow states.Communications psychology · 2024Review
- The effect of music tempo on movement flow.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- The Effect of Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback Training on Vagal Tone in Athletically Talented Secondary School Students.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- The psychophysiological mechanisms of real-world time experience.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Brain-Heart Interaction and the Experience of Flow While Playing a Video Game.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The flow state is defined by intense involvement in an activity with high degrees of concentration and focused attention accompanied by a sense of pleasure. Video games are effective tools for inducing flow, and keeping players in this state is considered to be one of the central goals of game design. Many studies have focused on the underlying physiological and neural mechanisms of flow. Results are inconsistent when describing a unified mechanism underlying this mental state. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the physiological and neural correlates of flow and explains the relationship between the reported physiological and neural markers of the flow experience. Despite the heterogeneous results, it seems possible to establish associations between reported markers and the cognitive and experiential aspects of flow, particularly regarding arousal, attention control, reward processing, automaticity, and self-referential processing.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.