![]() ![]() This suggests that the flow experience will be more likely if there is a match between the capacities afforded by ability and the demands of the activity, what we call the Match Hypothesis. ![]() This state occurs when a person is completely absorbed in a task or situation and is characterized by entering a “channel” where task demands and skills are equivalent so that one is not below this channel in a state of boredom or above this channel where the challenges of the task overcome one’s skill set ( Nakamura & Csikszentmihalyi, 2009). ![]() Flow is described as an exceptionally positive state and has been posited as the phenomenological experience that motivates people to perform difficult activities at a high level and to persevere in these activities across long periods of time ( Csikszentmihalyi, Abuhamdeh, & Nakamura, 2005). In the current study, we made a preliminary step toward addressing such issues by examining the nature of the flow state in older adults.Ĭsikszentmihalyi (1990) defined flow in terms of nine dimensions which include challenge-skill balance, the merging of actions with awareness, having clear task goals, unambiguous feedback, full concentration on the task at hand, a sense of control, a loss of self-consciousness, a perception of the transformation of time, and an autotelic (or intrinsically rewarding) experience (see Csikszentmihalyi, 1990 for a comprehensive review of these dimensions). To the extent that an intellectually engaging lifestyle may contribute to cognitive vitality (Hertzog, Kramer, Wilson, & Lindenberger, 2008 Crowe, Andel, Pedersen, Johansson, & Gatz, 2003 Wilson, Scherr et al., 2007 Parisi, Stine-Morrow, Noh & Morrow, 2009 Schooler & Mulatu, 2001 Schooler, Mulatu, & Oates, 1999), a full account of such enrichment effects will ultimately depend on understanding motivational states (such as flow) that may serve a self-regulatory function in engendering such choices in engagement. Furthermore, our review of the literature reveals little investigation of the mechanisms by which we derive pleasure from intellectual activities as we grow older. While young participants have reported greater levels of flow when engaged in intellectually challenging activities than when participating in passive and easy activities ( Csikszentmihalyi, 1990), the nature of such experiences has yet to be empirically assessed in an older sample. This is surprising given the role of flow in subjective well-being ( Myers & Diener, 1995) and the increased interest in the relationship between well-being and healthy aging ( Ryff, Singer, & Love, 2004). While the flow construct has been explored in various fields, neither the nature of flow in older adults nor its role in cognitive aging has been examined. Flow, which is defined as the experiential state that occurs as one approaches optimal engagement with a task, emerged from interest in describing the experience of optimal performance ( Nakamura & Csikszentmihalyi, 2009). Since Csikszentmihalyi (1975) first introduced the flow state as a general theory of the phenomenology of motivation, it has interested researchers from fields as diverse as education ( Vollmeyer & Rheinberg, 2006), sports psychology ( Jackson & Marsh, 1996), human factors ( Choi, Kim & Kim, 2007), and neuroscience ( Dietrich, 2004).
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