Team flow is experienced when players or workers on a team get "in the zone" to perform a task together. This study is the world’s first attempt to study equipment flow objectively. The first neuroscientific evidence of team flow as a unique brain state .
The study was conducted by a research team led by Associate Professor Mohammad Shehata from Toyohashi University of Technology, in cooperation with researchers from the California Institute of Technology and Tohoku University.
The team performs in harmony
Large teams experience this psychological phenomenon, from sports to marching bands and even professional work teams. When teamwork reaches the level of team flow, the team performs in harmony, often breaking its performance limits .
Now the brain activity of ten teams has been measured using EEG while they played a music video game together . In some tests, one was separated from teammates so they couldn’t see each other while playing, allowing for a solo flow state but preventing team flow.
Participants answered questions after each game to assess their level of fluency. In addition, the researchers invented an objective neural method to assess the depth of the team’s flow experience.
The researchers then compared the participants’ brain activity during each condition, finding a unique signature of the team’s flow: an increase in beta and gamma brain waves in the medial temporal cortex , a type of brain activity related to the processing of the brain. information. Teammates also had more synchronized brain activity during the team flow state compared to the normal teamwork state.
This study will provide a neural model-based framework that can be used to develop more effective team building strategies in areas where human performance and pleasure matter: business, sports, music, performing arts, video games, and entertainment .