What happens when flow ends? How and why your creativity is limited after a flow experience

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Flow is touted for the enjoyment it provides and for its relationship with concurrent task performance. But what happens when flow ends, and you move on to your next task? Our research demonstrates that there is a cost to being in flow in this regard. Specifically, the findings of three studies with 746 participants demonstrate that a person who just experienced flow carries forward a figurative tunnel vision which limits their creativity. This is important because flow can happen throughout daily life and can thus impair many creative tasks. In fact, our findings demonstrate that common activities can elicit a flow state that produces the effect on multiple subsequent tasks. Specifically, participants who experienced flow while playing video games in Study 1 were less creative in their subsequent two tasks compared to those who did not experience flow. This finding was replicated in Study 2 with a new flow inducing task. Study 2 also confirmed cognitive flexibility as an underlying mechanism wherein flow leads to a reduction in cognitive flexibility. Lastly, Study 3 shows that people can experience flow while shopping online, and if they do, their creativity is impaired in their next task. The negative carry-over effect was not equal for all forms of creativity, however; it consistently limited verbal creativity, but had limited influence on figural creativity. These findings make several theoretical contributions regarding the nature of flow and its consequences, while also providing practical insights for people structuring their day to increase creativity.