Investigating Flow State and Cardiac Pre-ejection Period During Electronic Gaming Machine Use

Abstract

Flow activities (e.g. sports and gaming) have been associated with positive affect and prolonged engagement. In the gambling field, modern electronic gaming machines (EGMs, including modern slot machines) have drawn concern as a potentially flowinducing activity that may be associated with gambling-related harms. Current research has heavily relied on self-reported flow, and further insights may be afforded by physiological methods. We present data from three separate experiments in which selfreported gambling flow and cardiac pre-ejection period (PEP; a measure of sympathetic nervous system arousal) were examined. Male undergraduate participants gambled on a genuine EGM in a laboratory setting for a period of at least 15 min, and completed the Flow subscale of the game experience questionnaire (GEQ). Aggregated data were analyzed using multilevel regression. Although EGM gambling was not associated with significant changes in PEP across participants, we found that self-reported flow states were associated with significant decreases in PEP during the first five minutes of EGM use. Thus, participants who experienced flow showed a greater sympathetic nervous system response to the onset of gambling. Though these effects were consistent in experiments 1 and 2, in experiment 3 the effect was inverted during the same time window. We conclude that flow during EGM gambling appears to be associated with early changes in sympathetic nervous system activity, but stress that more research is needed to characterize boundary conditions and moderating factors.

Creative Flow and Physiologic States in Dancers During Performance

“…This was validated in the regression analyses that indicated more SNS activation (PEP change from base to performance) in dancers who experienced greater SC while performing. This finding was similar to a study that investigated electronic gaming use and PEP influences during flow states (Murch et al, 2020). In order to meet physical exertion demands, vagal tone must diminish with SNS activation, a reciprocal pattern that was evident in the dancers.…”

“…During physical activity such as dance, dancers' HR and respiratory rate/volume are much greater during performance compared with their resting states. These ANS responses are much greater compared with ANS values in participants who are engaging in mental challenges such as computer games (Tian et al, 2017;Murch et al, 2020). This dynamic range in dancers will influence HRV measurements, which makes comparisons across different studies challenging.…”

“…Physiologic flow states elicit more activation of the SNS, including elevated HR (Yoshie et al, 2009;Thomson and Jaque, 2011;Jaque et al, 2015), and are accompanied by increased parasympathetic withdrawal (Murch et al, 2017). Increased sympathetic tone may also operate in a "U" shape, with moderate elevation occurring during flow states but not reaching the levels found in high-arousal states such as terror and high-intensity workloads (Peifer et al, 2014;Murch et al, 2020). In contrast, evidence suggests that increased parasympathetic tone is associated with the relaxed state generated by positive flow engagement (Harmat et al, 2015); however, the investigation of vagus nerve stimulation has demonstrated that elevated parasympathetic tone diminishes creative and cognitive flexibility (Ghacibeh et al, 2006).…”

“…A longer time period prior to aortic valve opening is associated with decreased activation of the SNS. When measuring PEP, values are inversely related to sympathetic activation (Berntson et al, 2008;Murch et al, 2020). RMSSD is the root mean square differences of successive R-R (heartbeat) intervals.…”

Understanding the Slot Machine Zone

“…Early quantitative studies of this state emphasized depersonalization as a core feature, comparing the zone to a pathological dissociative state [14,16,19]. Subsequent research has examined the zone through the lens of Flow Theory from the field of positive psychology [20][21][22] (see Table 2). In our view, both of these models present a reasonable interpretation of the slot machine zone, and yet many people would consider dissociation and flow to be quite different psychological states.…”