Objective: In neuroscience, despite high investments, paradigms designed to evoke cognition and other psychological processes remain scarcely founded in their theoretical characterization. This work aimed to achieve a deep understanding of Csikszentmihalyi’s concept of flow, followed by its schematic representation in a neurocognitive workflow for task design: the Flow Works model.
Methods: Through a comprehensive review of Csikszentmihalyi’s (1990) main book about flow, a schematic conceptual model was designed for the process of flow, based on neurocognitive understanding and other developmental models in psychology.
Results: From a neurocognitive framework, flow is presented by Csikszentmihalyi as a cyclic process depending on attention and executive functions, namely problem solving, response monitoring, and decision making. Our Flow Works model promotes meaning as the turning point that enhances origin-end linkage. It updates intention in a progressive manner, at the upper level, resulting in an increasingly engaged and enjoyable process.
Discussion: Our conceptual model of flow experience is a self-centered model in which challenges and results are described as perceived by individuals. It provided a cyclic frame work for both experimental and business task designs, expecting to add meaning itself through expanded equivalence between research (thinking), professional practice (acting), and life satisfaction (feeling).
Conclusions: Novel studies ought to formulate a more sophisticated design, integrating different features involved in flow, beyond the challenge-skill balance. This work is expected to expand its beneficial scope towards the integration of professional and personal realizations.