DISTINGUISHING HIGH AND LOW FLOW STATES DURING VIDEO GAME PLAY THROUGH THE MISMATCH NEGATIVITY TO TASK-IRRELEVANT SOUNDS: AN EVENT-RELATED POTENTIAL STUDY

Flow is a state of optimal performance marked by deep involvement, effortless attention, and high intrinsic motivation. Flow is frequently reported during video game play, with players knowing exactly what to do, performing at their best, unaware of the passage of time or of fatigue. Despite decades of research, the neural mechanisms underlying flow remain incompletely understood, partly due to it being often contrasted with boredom, a state of overall lesser task interest. Here, we examine event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by task-irrelevant auditory stimuli presented during periods of higher or lower flow induced by video game play as in Joessel et al. (2024). Following Nunez Castellar et al. (2019), we hypothesized that distracting, game-irrelevant auditory stimuli would receive fewer processing resources in higher flow compared to lower flow (but still with high task interest), and thus would elicit reduced N1, Mismatch Negativity (MMN), and novel P3 components during higher flow. Contrary to these predictions, flow-related effects were observed in the MMN elicited by deviants and novels, with larger amplitudes observed during higher flow. This pattern may reflect increased automaticity or more efficient sensory processing during higher flow, contrary to the hypothesis of reduced early processing of task-irrelevant materials. Flow may therefore be associated with enhanced sensory and early attentional resources. This view suggests that lack of response to semantically meaningful information, such as ignoring one’s name while engrossed in playing video games, may result from a late selection mechanism rather than early filtering.