Electromyography in the Context of Flow Measurement

The frequent occurrence of a Flow state can nurture happiness and overall satisfaction and can positively affect the exploratory behavior and creativity. Due to its positive effects, it is therefore desirable to study the conditions of occurrence and how to improve Flow probability. For this, it is almost a necessity to reliably measure and evaluate said state.
While Flow data is commonly obtained via surveys, due to their subjective nature and time displacement between the actual occurrence of the Flow and the answering of the survey itself, represent a suboptimal procedure. It is therefore desirable to find more objective and more robust means of measuring Flow states. In the context of this study, the potential of Electromyography (EMG) in the endeavor of achieving this goal will be examined. More specifically it will be tested if EMG can be a valid method of measuring emotions during a Flow state and whether or not the usage of EMG electrodes affects Flow occurrence negatively.