Measuring game immersion and flow with electroencephalography

Immersion and Flow are important parameters when it comes to an enjoyable experience of video games. To measure these mental states usually self-assessment questionnaires, answered by the subject after the experience, are used. Because of the shortcomings of this method, the ultimate goal is to establish an alternative measuring method through correlations of physiological sensor data. While there are many physiological data sources to be looked at, such as recording the heartrate or skin conductance, measuring brain activity with electroencephalography (EEG) is one of the most promising candidates towards a way of objectively measuring Immersion and Flow. In this paper, an experiment to record EEG data during and questionnaire data after game play is presented. As a proof of concept, the experiment is tested with an initial test study on three subjects and the recorded data is used for analysis and a first correlation attempt. Although the results are not yet generaliz able, they indicate that increased overall beta and frontal theta activity may be related to Flow and Immersion. This remains to be proven by conducting further studies in the future to achieve statistical significance.