🧠✨ Preprint Alert: Flow - The Brain's Natural Filter

🌟 Preprint Alert - Shield Your Mind with Flow 🌟

We are excited to share our latest research, currently under review in the European Journal of Neuroscience:
“Shielding the Mind with Flow: Attention Allocation and Auditory Event-Related Potentials Under Varying Mental Workload”

Research Question

This research explores how varying levels of mental workload influence auditory attention, cognitive resource allocation, the perception of task-irrelevant stimuli, and the experience of flow—a state of deep focus and task absorption.

Key Findings

Using EEG and behavioral data, we demonstrate flow’s role as a “shielding mechanism” that minimizes distractions and prioritizes task-related processes.

Methods:
We conducted a dual-task experiment with 13 participants, combining a primary game-based task at three difficulty levels with a secondary auditory oddball task. The conditions were:

• Underload (low challenge) 💤
• Flow (optimal challenge tailored to the individual) ⚡
• Overload (high challenge) 🔥

Findings:

• Flow Performance: Participants showed the highest task performance and reported the most positive experiences during flow, but attention to secondary tasks diminished, reflecting selective focus.
• EEG Insights: Reduced P300 amplitudes during flow indicate decreased attention to auditory stimuli, reinforcing flow’s shielding effect.
• MVPA: Temporal decoding successfully differentiated flow from underload and overload conditions, highlighting distinct EEG patterns.

Implications:

• Practical Applications: Insights into flow can guide the design of productivity-enhancing environments.
• Technological Innovations: EEG-based detection of flow opens new possibilities for adaptive systems and brain-computer interfaces.

Read the Preprint

We are actively re-analyzing the data for deeper insights, including blink-related evoked potentials during flow. Stay tuned!

📄 Read the Preprint