Flow state psychology how to#

To enhance creativity, it is thought to be important to be in a diffuse attention state in which one is not focused on specific work and tasks but also pays attention to “task-irrelevant” information (e.g., Williams et al., 2018 Zmigrod et al., 2019). In ART, it is interpreted that the natural environment separates one’s attention from one’s work (i.e., distracting from the work) and stops the consumption of attention by the work, thereby benefitting various aspects of cognitive processing. In particular, the enhancement of creativity by spending time in a natural environment has been explained with the Attention Restoration Theory (ART) framework of the effect of the natural environment on a person’s psychological state (e.g., Kaplan and Kaplan, 1989 Kaplan, 1995 Kaplan and Berman, 2010). Regarding the work environment, some studies reported that distractions such as background noise, a disorderly environment and the natural environment increased creativity (e.g., Atchley et al., 2012 Mehta et al., 2012 Vohs et al., 2013 Chulvi et al., 2020).

Flow state psychology how to#

Therefore, there is increasing interest in how to enhance creativity and promote activities in each field.Īs the way to enhance creativity, previous studies have reported findings involving the work environment and the effect of exercise.

In addition, the development of artificial intelligence technology can automate simple tasks, and humans are expected to engage in creative tasks ( Corazza, 2017). Currently, creativity has been examined using various methodologies, e.g., psychology, neuroscience, and many other fields, and these studies reported that creativity influences various levels of human life, such as individual cognition, work engagement, and culture (e.g., Fink et al., 2009 Hennessey and Amabile, 2010 Dietrich, 2019 Khalil et al., 2019). Further research is needed to understand how this can lead to increased creativity.Ĭreativity is an important, complex, and multifaceted concept for work, art, society, and many other fields (e.g., Hennessey and Amabile, 2010 Zhou and Hoever, 2014 Dietrich, 2019). This study suggests that outdoor exercise increases neuronal activity in brain regions related to creativity. Our results from the FSS suggest that exercise in a natural environment is perceived subjectively differently from indoor exercise, participants report greater experiences of flow compared to indoor exercise, and the EEG measures objectively indicate enhanced cognitive activity in a creativity task after outdoor exercise. In addition, FSS scores for positive emotional experience and absorption were higher after outdoor exercise than after indoor exercise. Results showed that while AUT scores did not significantly differ between conditions, alpha band activity at the parietal occipital region involved in divergent creativity increased during the AUT after outdoor exercise while it did not during the AUT after indoor exercise. During the test, brain activity was recorded using electroencephalography (EEG) and a short version flow state scale (FSS) was completed after the experiment. The participants performed an Alternative Uses Test (AUT), in which ordinary objects are presented to the participants (e.g., a brick), to prompt as many ideas for alternative uses as possible, which are transformed into a creativity score, after indoor running and outdoor running. In this within-subjects design study, we examined the influence of outdoor exercise that combined a natural environment with exercise on creativity compared to an indoor exercise control condition by analyzing cognitive activities related to creativity. Previous research finds that natural environments and exercise enhance creativity. 4Faculty of Engineering, Kyoto Tachibana University, Kyoto, Japan.3ASICS Corporation, Tokyo, Hyogo, Japan.

2Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.1The Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research (ISIR), Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.Tsukasa Kimura 1 * †, Teruhiro Mizumoto 2 †, Yuusuke Torii 3, Masumi Ohno 3, Teruo Higashino 2,4 and Yasushi Yagi 1