ArticleFrontiers in psychiatry2022
Getting Into the Zone: A Pilot Study of Autonomic-Cardiac Modulation and Flow State During Piano Performance.
Article in Frontiers in psychiatry, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 13 citations in OpenAlex.
- The application of virtual reality exposure versus relaxation training in music performance anxiety: a randomized controlled study.BMC psychiatry · 2023Trial
- Finding flow at the piano: psychological regulation and configurational profiles among art students at Chinese sport universities.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Positive narrative writing reduces music performance anxiety more effectively than traumatic narrative.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Music performance anxiety: evolutionary, developmental, and psychodynamic perspectives.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Review
- Mapping the relationship between flow experience and music performance anxiety: a scoping review.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Review
- Physiological assessment of the psychological flow state using wearable devices.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Flow and Physiological Response Assessment during Exercise Using Metrorhythmic Stimuli.Journal of human kinetics · 2024Article
- A framework for neurophysiological experiments on flow states.Communications psychology · 2024Review
- Flow and performance: a quantitative study of elicitation modeling in a piano performance perspective.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Flow in human-robot collaboration-multimodal analysis and perceived challenge detection in industrial scenarios.Frontiers in robotics and AI · 2024Article
- Physiological synchrony and shared flow state in Javanese gamelan: positively associated while improvising, but not for traditional performance.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Impact of music performance anxiety on cardiovascular blood pressure responses, autonomic tone and baroreceptor sensitivity to a western classical music piano-concert.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Music performance anxiety is a common experience among elite and professional musicians and impedes performers from achieving flow state, or a state of focused, sustained engagement that promotes optimal performance. Objective: The aim of this study was to use heart rate variability (HRV) to determine the psychophysiological underpinnings of optimal music performance. Methods: We assessed HRV to study how autonomic-cardiac modulation was associated with flow during piano performance. Twenty-two pianists (15-22 years) with at least a Grade 8 Royal Conservatory of Music certification prepared two standardized pieces and a self-selected piece. Performer heart rate data were measured with a Polar 800 watch in 5-min periods immediately before performances, during performances and post-performance. HRV was employed to assess autonomic modulation of cardiac intervals. HRV indices of sympathetic and parasympathetic modulation of the heart were analyzed in 2.5-min segments to monitor short-term autonomic adjustments using the Kubios HRV Software. Flow state was measured using the 36-item Flow State Scale (FSS). Relationships were analyzed using zero-order correlations and multiple linear regressions. Results: Our sample consisted of 22 RCM Grade 8 certified pianists. Participants achieved the highest level of flow during performance of the Bach piece. Decreased HRV was observed during performance, as indicated by a significant drop in total power. Flow state was positively associated with High Frequency (HF) power during the pre-performance phase, and inversely associated with Low Frequency (LF) power during performance. Conclusion: Inverse association of flow with LF-HRV during performance affirms the importance of vagal-HR modulation for achievement of flow state. Increased HF-HRV and reduced LF-HRV immediately prior to performance suggests that flow state may be shaped as much by physiological preparation during pre-performance as it is by physiologic responses during performance. Further research is required to validate the correlation between autonomic modulation of the heart and flow state. Evidence of this correlation between autonomic modulation of the heart and achievement of flow state may pave the way for further research on enhancing musical performance and targeting MPA through HRV-based interventions.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.