• Back
• Next

日本語

Team flow is experienced when team players get "in the zone" to accomplish a task together. Great teams experience this psychological phenomenon, from sports to music bands and even professional work teams. When teamwork reaches the team flow level, one can observe the team perform in harmony, breaking their performance limits.

However, in order to scientifically investigate the team flow state, it is essential to reproduce and objectively measure the team flow state in the laboratory, and this has been the stumbling block to research for decades.

Researchers at the Electronics-Inspired Interdisciplinary Research Institute (EIIRIS) at Toyohashi University of Technology and California Institute of Technology found ways to break such hurdles and provide the first neuroscience evidence of team flow. The researchers used EEG to measure the individual brain activity of 10 two-person teams, while each team played a music video game together. In some trials, a partition separated the teammates so they couldn’t see each other while they played, allowing a solo flow state but preventing team flow. The research team scrambled the music into random sound sequences in other trials, which prevented a flow state but still allowed teamwork. The participants answered questions after each game to assess their level of flow. After the experiment, we compared the brain activity of the game players in the different states (solo flow, teamwork, and team flow). Then, the researchers compared the brain activity of the participants during each condition. They found a unique signature for team flow: increased beta and gamma brain waves in the middle temporal cortex, a type of brain activity linked to information processing. Teammates also had more synchronized brain activity during the team flow state compared to the regular teamwork state.

This study provides a methodology, based on neural models, that can be used for more effective team-building strategies in areas where human performance and pleasure matters - business, sports, music, performing arts, video games, and entertainment. In partnership with governmental and industrial institutions, the researchers plan to utilize the neural signature of team flow to monitor and enhance team performance and, perhaps, build more effective teams.

Enhancing performance while maintaining enjoyment may also lead to improved quality of life, including reduced incidence of depression, panic attacks, and anxiety.

This work is supported by following programs.

• The program for promoting the enhancement of research universities funded to Toyohashi University of Technology
• Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (Fostering Joint International Research(B), Grant Number 18KK0280)
• The Japan Science and Technology (JST)-CREST Grant Number JPMJCR14E4
• The University of Hong Kong postgraduate scholarship program.
• The University of Hong Kong General Research Fund.
• Australian Research Council Discovery Projects (DP180104128 and DP180100396).
• An Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship.