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Flow is the experience of effortless attention, reduced self-consciousness, and a deep sense of control that typically occurs during the optimal performance of challenging tasks. On the basis of the person–artifact–task model, we selected computer games (tasks) with varying levels of difficulty (difficult, medium, and easy) and shyness (personality) as flow precursors to study the physiological activity of users in a flow state. Cardiac and respiratory activity and mean changes in skin conductance (SC) were measured continuously while the participants (n = 40) played the games. Moreover, the associations between self-reported psychological flow and physiological measures were investigated through a series of repeated-measures analyses. The results showed that the flow experience is related to a faster respiratory rate, deeper respiration, moderate heart rate (HR), moderate HR variability, and moderate SC. The main effect of shyness was non-significant, whereas the interaction of shyness and difficulty influenced the flow experience. These findings are discussed in relation to current models of arousal and valence. The results indicate that the flow state is a state of moderate mental effort that arises through the increased parasympathetic modulation of sympathetic activity.

Prospective memory (PM) is the process associated with the task of realizing delayed intentions in the future. Researchers distinguish two types of PM, namely time-based PM (tbPM) and event-based PM (ebPM). Experiment 1 investigated the developmental trajectory of 3- to 5-year-old preschool children’s PM ability, and the occurrence of delayed retrieval (children execute the PM task in a larger window of opportunity) in both tbPM and ebPM tasks. Results revealed that the 5-year-old children outperformed the 3- and 4-year-old children in PM. Moreover, delayed retrieval was more likely to occur in tbPM task than in ebPM task. In Experiment 2, the influence of ongoing task (OT) difficulty on PM performance was investigated with a sample of 5-year-old children. Results revealed no significant effect of OT difficulty on PM performance. In Experiment 3, we improved children’s motivation level to complete the OT, then explored the influence of OT difficulty on children’s PM performance. Results revealed that the effect of OT difficulty on PM performance became significant after increasing the children’s motivation to complete the OT. These results provide insights into the mechanism of attentional resource allocation in PM tasks and have crucial educational and social implications.