Flow States and Associated Changes in Spatial and Temporal Processing.

Scott Sinnett,Joshua Jäger,Roberta Antonini Philippe,Sarah Morgana Singer

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00381

Abstract

Improved perception during high performance is a commonly reported phenomenon. However, it is difficult to determine whether these reported changes experienced during flow states reflect veridical changes in perceptual processing, or if instead are related to some form of memory or response bias. Flow is a state in which an individual experiences high focus and involvement in a specific task, and typically experiences a lack of distractibility, a disordered sense of time, great enjoyment, and increased levels of performance. The present pre-registered study investigated 27 athletes and musicians using a temporal order judgement (TOJ) task before and after a sports or music performance over three sessions. Participants' flow experiences were surveyed in order to measure how modulations of flow over successive performances potentially modulates spatiotemporal perception and processing. Hierarchical linear modeling showed a positive moderation of subjectively experienced flow and performance on post-measures of a TOJ task. Specifically, the higher the subjective flow experience of the sport or music performance was rated, the better the participant performed in the post-performance TOJ task compared to the pre-performance TOJ task. The findings of the present study provide a more comprehensive explanation of human perception during flow at high level performances and suggest important insights regarding the possibility of modulated temporal processing and spatial attention.

Highlights

Several anecdotal claims regarding improved perception during flow states have been reported in various populations, yet it remains an open question as to whether there is a veridical change in perception, or if instead these reported improvements in perception are related to post-performance memory biases
In this study we explored whether such modulation of temporal processing and spatial attention can be observed depending on flow experience, in the shortterm
The mean answer on the 5-point Likert scale to the control question [i.e., “My state during the task on the computer was similar to the state I had during my music/sports performance.”] was 3.33 (SD = 1.09), suggesting that participants tended to affirm the statement

Summary

Introduction

Several anecdotal claims regarding improved perception during flow states have been reported in various populations, yet it remains an open question as to whether there is a veridical change in perception, or if instead these reported improvements in perception are related to post-performance memory biases. As an example of this supposed improvement in performance, George Scott, a professional baseball player, stated in an interview: “When you’re hitting the ball [well], it comes at you looking like a grapefruit. In an attempt to disentangle the question of whether perception is modulated during optimum performance levels, Witt and Proffitt (2005) correlated performance when playing softball (i.e., batting averages) and the perceived size of a softball. According to Witt and Proffitt (2005), successful players perceived the ball to be bigger than less successful players, with this finding leading the authors to further claim that enhanced performance levels are capable of modulating perception. Similar findings have been found with darts players, with throwing ability in darts influencing the perceived size of a target (Wesp et al, 2004; Cañal-Bruland et al, 2010), such that participants with better accuracy chose

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