Flow-experiences under controlled work-load regulation

What is it about?

Physical activity has always been a central subject of flow research since the introduction of the construct. It soon became clear that continuous diagnosis during physical activity would provide an adequate approach for studying it. Nonetheless, field studies analyzing the trigger mechanisms for flow experiences and flow-performance correlations have produced inconsistent results. Therefore, the aim of the present study is: (1) to test whether the postulated demand-ability fit (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975) will also be a precondition for the development of flow experiences in runners under laboratory conditions, and (2) to document the dynamics of flow experiences during continuous running performance and their correlations with physiological variables. Using a demand-oriented speed regulation of the treadmill, 30 runners were brought to an individual above-average demand level and then ran in this condition for 40 min. In summary, results showed that runners reported a deep and stable flow experience. However, these experiences were independent from their subjective experience of an optimal demand-ability fit.

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