Table 2. Studies on neural correlates of the flow state: brain imaging investigations.

Ref.	N subjects	Age mean/ range	Sample	Experiment type	Design	Measure	Neural correlates of flow
Klasen et al. (2008)	18	–	–	FPS game: Counter Strike	12 min gameplay	fMRI	Correlation between game pleasure, cerebro-thalamic motor, & visual network activity
Klasen et al. (2012)	13(m)	18-26	Healthy students	FPS game: Tactical Ops Assault on Terror	12 min gameplay	fMRI	Activation of somatosensory networks & motor areas during situations with enhanced probability of flow
Ulrich et al. (2014)	27(m)	23	Healthy students	Mental arithmetic task	184 s Under-challenged, Flow, Over-challenged	Perfusion MRI	Increased activity in the left IFG, left putamen, & posterior cortical regions as well as decrease in MPFC and AMY in the flow condition
Yoshida et al. (2014)	20(10f)	21–25	Healthy students	Tetris game	4 min Under-challenged, Flow	fNIRS	Higher activation of VLPFC in the flow condition
Harmat et al. (2015)	77(40f)	27	Healthy subjects	Tetris game	6 min Under-challenged, Flow, Over-challenged	fNIRS, ECG, Res	No association between frontal cortical oxygenation & flow
Ulrich, Keller & Grön (2016)	23(m)	24	Healthy students	Mental arithmetic task	30 s Under-challenged, Flow, Over-challenged	fMRI , EDA	Increased activity in the left IFG, left putamen, & posterior cortical regions in the flow condition; decreased activity in MPFC, PCC and AMY in the flow condition
De Sampaio Barros et al. (2018)	20 (7f)	26	Healthy adults	Tetris, Pong games	3 min Under-challenged, Flow, Over-challenged, Autonomy	ECG, Res, NIRS	Higher activation in lateral PFC & deactivation in MPFC in the autonomy condition
Ulrich et al. (2018)	22(m)	24.9	Healthy students	Mental arithmetic task	170 s Under-challenged, Flow, Over-challenged	Perfusion MRI, tDCS	Increase in the flow index of lower-flow group under anodal midfrontal tDCS stimulation & stronger deactivation of AMY
Gold & Ciorciari (2019)	11(m) 21(11f)	29–31	Trained & untrained gamers	FPS games: Counter Strike Global Offensive , Battlefield 4, Tetris game	20 min & 3 min Under-challenged, Flow, Over-challenged	tDCS	Higher level of flow after the active tDCS over DLPFC & right parietal cortex
Ju & Wallraven (2019)	31(m)	24.8	Healthy students	Car driving game	3 min gameplay	fMRI	Positive correlations between the flow experience and brain activity in regions related to visual and spatial execution as well as attentional processes & negative correlations with the DMN’s activity

Notes.

fMRI

functional magnetic resonance imaging

MRI

magnetic resonance imaging

fNIRS

functional near-infrared spectroscopy

NIRS

near-infrared spectroscopy

ECG

electrocardiography

EDA

electrodermal activity

tDCS

transcranial direct-current stimulation

FPS

first person shooter

Res

respiration

IFG

inferior frontal gyrus

PFC

prefrontal cortex

MPFC

medial prefrontal cortex

AMY

amygdala

VLPFC

ventrolateral prefrontal cortex

DLPFC

dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

PCC

posterior cingulate cortex

DMN

default mode network

m

male

f

female