Graduation Term

2015

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Department of Psychology

Committee Chair

Jerome S. Jordan

Abstract

Nakamura and Csikszentmihalyi (2002) define flow as an individual's deep engagement in an intrinsically rewarding activity. McGonigal (2011) suggests that video games are flow elicitors. If video games are flow elicitors, then spatial, agentic, and temporal perception required for game play may relate to flow in predictable manners. Over two experiments, a simple video game with contextual (i.e., implied friction) and conceptual (i.e., ambiguous stimulus labeled either bullet-train or house) manipulations was used to elicit flow. Effects of the manipulations were assessed trial-by-trial on two dimensions of flow (i.e., agency and temporal perception) and spatial planning, as well as an overall flow score. Interesting relations emerged between the trial-by-trial agency variable and large-scale paper-pencil measure of flow as a result of being told the stimulus was a bullet-train. These findings indicate that traditional perceptual measures of agency may be useful in future explorations of flow in the realm of gaming.

Access Type

Thesis-Open Access

DOI

http://doi.org/10.30707/ETD2015.Gill.D

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