Balancing skill against difficulty - behavior, heart rate and heart rate variability of shelter dogs during two different introductions of an interactive game

Hintze & Yee. Animals in flow – towards the scientific study of intrinsic reward in animals

“…This supports the notions that (i) too much and too little arousal/challenge inhibit flow, and (ii) perceptions of effortlessness thought to be associated with parasympathetic activity increase with increasing flow. In line with the idea that co-activation of both branches supports flow states, Arhant et al (2020) found a strong positive correlation between sympathetic (HR) and parasympathetic (RMSSD) measures in dogs that were gradually introduced to a game but a negative correlation in dogs that were hastily introduced to the same game. The authors suggest that, unlike dogs that were hastily introduced to the game and thus prone to frustration, dogs from the first group developed a better match between challenge and skills and perhaps experienced a flow-like state, characterised by a similar physiological signature as previously found in humans (Arhant et al, 2020).…”

“…In line with the idea that co-activation of both branches supports flow states, Arhant et al (2020) found a strong positive correlation between sympathetic (HR) and parasympathetic (RMSSD) measures in dogs that were gradually introduced to a game but a negative correlation in dogs that were hastily introduced to the same game. The authors suggest that, unlike dogs that were hastily introduced to the game and thus prone to frustration, dogs from the first group developed a better match between challenge and skills and perhaps experienced a flow-like state, characterised by a similar physiological signature as previously found in humans (Arhant et al, 2020). While further research is necessary, co-activation of the autonomic nervous system branches may well mediate the effort paradox widely discussed as a hallmark of human flow in which energetic effort is high but perceived effort is lower than expected (Harris et al, 2017).…”

“…In animal welfare science, flow has been mentioned by very few authors (e.g. Arhant et al, 2020;Meehan and Mench, 2007;Špinka, 2019), and empirical data do not exist. We do not claim that flow is an isolated concept, but rather argue that it forms part of an archipelago of related themes that have been studied theoretically and/or empirically in non-human animals and that link to the concept of flow.…”

Animals in flow – towards the scientific study of intrinsic reward in animals

“…In animal welfare science, flow has been mentioned by few authors (e.g. Arhant et al ., 2020; Clark, 2011, 2017; Meehan & Mench, 2007; Špinka, 2019), and empirical data do not exist. We do not claim that flow is an isolated concept, but rather argue that it forms part of an archipelago of related themes that have been studied theoretically and/or empirically in non‐human animals and that link to the concept of flow.…”

“…In line with the idea that co‐activation of both branches supports flow states, Arhant et al . (2020) found a strong positive correlation between sympathetic (heart rate, HR) and parasympathetic (root mean square of successive HR interval differences, RMSSD) measures in dogs that were gradually introduced to a game but a negative correlation in dogs that were hastily introduced to the same game. The authors suggest that, unlike dogs that were hastily introduced to the game and thus prone to frustration, dogs from the first group developed a better match between challenge and skills and perhaps experienced a flow‐like state, characterised by a similar physiological signature as found previously in humans (Arhant et al ., 2020).…”