Time flies when you're having flow: An experiment on time perception and challenge in a VR game

Abstract

Behavioural measures of flow state have not yet been identified. Instead, flow state has traditionally been measured using retrospective self-reports that rely on memory ability and are vulnerable to reporter bias. In our study, we examined if altered time perception can be observed during flow state by measuring temporal processing both during and after an activity. Seventy healthy young adults played the virtual reality game ‘Beat Saber’ with three challenge levels (easy, medium, and hard) in a repeated-measures design. We predicted the medium condition would induce flow due to the balance between participant skill and challenge, leading to time being reported as passing faster than easy and hard conditions. We also measured self-reported flow experience, emotions, objective task performance, and heart rate/variability (HR/HRV). Time perception was measured both concurrently (during gameplay) by participants verbally signalling the passage of 50-s intervals, and retrospectively (after gameplay) through session duration estimates. Consistent with previous flow research, the medium-challenge condition was associated with the highest levels of subjective flow and lowest levels of negative emotions. HR increased and HRV decreased as challenge increased. Notably, there was a significant relationship between concurrent time perception and flow experience. Participants in the medium-challenge (flow) condition perceived 50-s intervals as significantly shorter than in the easy and hard conditions, indicating that flow in our experiment was associated with time acceleration. Measuring concurrent time perception therefore provides an objective alternative to retrospective self-report when measuring flow states.