From Amateur to Pro – Your Tech could be your new Guru
By Tanvi Banerjee, Associate Professor, Wright State University & William L. Romine, Director of Data Science for Education Laboratory (DSEL), Wright State University
Anybody who has done goal-driven work may be able to recall a time when they were ‘in the zone’. When we give our full attention and focus to a task, self-consciousness fades, our perception of time changes, and the visions of a specific reward or outcome that may have driven the inception of the task disappear in the background. We may have begun an activity with the end in mind, but once we enter flow, the activity becomes an end in itself. Indeed, this state of “being in flow” is more than just a sensation or feeling; it’s the ultimate mindset for those seeking the opportunity to experience personal growth from both work and activities of daily living. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi referred to cognitive flow as a state of optimal experience, which sets us up for deriving both meaning and purpose from our day-to-day lives. Achieving flow in our work not only increases the quality of the product but also makes difficult tasks more inherently satisfying, which increases resilience and reduces burnout. However, finding and maintaining a state of flow can be elusive for many of us, and even those of us who experience flow on a regular basis would like to better understand how to access this state more readily. General considerations for optimizing access to flow are both environmental and attitudinal; these include setting clear goals, choosing tasks that are not too easy or difficult, structuring tasks to provide clear feedback, and trying to focus on the task itself as opposed to judgments and outcomes. Optimal conditions for flow can also be highly individual. For example, the types of tasks that are conducive to flow are likely to vary by individual. Environmental triggers may also vary; for example, some may find background noise to be distracting while others may find it helpful for finding flow. In this sense, there is a lot of room for individual exploration and discovery when it comes to finding flow.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could achieve this state with wearables to guide us and help us achieve excellence in any task that we are passionate about?
On a neurochemical level, flow is associated with the release of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and norepinephrine, which enhance focus and attention, as well as serotonin and anandamide, which reduce self-consciousness and anxiety, promoting feelings of well-being. Such a reduction in self-consciousness and internal chatter comes from activation of the parasympathetic nervous system and has clear physiological markers, including slowed breathing rate, reduced blood pressure, and increased skin temperature due to vasodilation. Wearable devices such as health and fitness trackers can be utilized to collect physiological markers of cognitive flow and can ultimately provide temporal insight into how to achieve flow in our work more readily. This then begs the question: Are there invisible biomarkers that can provide unbiased feedback that can help coach us into a flow state?
When we ‘get into the zone’ and enter flow, we can feel it, suggesting that potentially measurable physiological changes are induced. If these changes can be captured with our wearable devices, then flow can be classified in the same way that exercise, stress, and sleep are labeled using the current state of the art. The wearable tech market is currently valued at $80 billion and is expected to reach $180 billion USD by 2030. They range from tracking physiological markers such as heart rate variability, skin temperature, oxygen saturation and systolic and diastolic blood pressure, to extracting activity and sleep measurements that can speak to the user’s sleep habits, recovery and, going beyond that with the help of machine learning techniques, suggest routines and workouts to enable the user to reach their healthcare goals. However, the next frontier in wearable technology is reliable labeling of cognitive states such as mental effort and flow.
Using these wearable devices to track physiological shifts like heart rate variability and skin temperature, we can move beyond theory to accurately predict our flow state. By receiving real-time feedback on where we are in the flow zone, we can adjust our task structure or change our learning environment to improve our flow score. For example, experiments from our lab show that changing the color temperature of our ambient light can affect the task performance and flow state. Other data from our lab indicate that movement correlates highly with flow. These are relatively simple things that we can easily fix in our work environment to make it more conducive to flow. Another dimension to task performance that needs to be addressed is fatigue. While these are typically described as being on opposite sides of the energy or task performance spectrum, the relationship between flow and fatigue is more complex than a simple linear or mathematical expression. One example of this is when we try to solve a math problem while we are already tired or sleep deprived; even simple problems might get difficult to solve. On the other hand, if we are already in flow state, say when we are playing the piano or running a marathon, something that we are passionate about, then fatigue comes across as more of an afterthought or an aftermath once we have completed the activity. While both cognitive flow and fatigue are primarily assessed through self-report, objective physiological biomarkers such as heart rate, heart rate variability, and skin temperature can predict these states with surprisingly high accuracy.
While several research directions still need to be explored, wearables show promise as a “flow guide” in achieving a higher skillset for any tasks that we’d like to learn. In mainstream media, the movie Soul (Disney, Pixar, 2020) discusses the zone: a state of trancelike behavior one gets lost in as they work on something that they are passionate about. In yogic philosophy, this state is referred to as dhyana, a state of effortless and unbroken awareness resulting in mental bliss. Wouldn’t it be great if we could achieve this state with wearables to guide us and help us achieve excellence in any task that we are passionate about?