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Information Systems and Neuroscience pp 109–120Cite as

The Psychophysiology of Flow: A Systematic Review of Peripheral Nervous System Features

Part of the Lecture Notes in Information Systems and Organisation book series (LNISO,volume 25)

Abstract

As information systems (IS) are increasingly able to induce highly engaging and interactive experiences, the phenomenon of flow is considered a promising vehicle to understand IS user behavior and to ultimately inform the design of flow-fostering IS. However, despite growing interest of researchers in the phenomenon, knowledge about how to continuously assess flow during IS usage is limited. Hereby, recent developments in NeuroIS and psychophysiology propose novel possibilities to overcome this limitation. This article presents the results of a systematic literature review (SLR) on peripheral nervous system indicators of flow. The findings revealed that currently four major approaches exist towards physiological measurement. Propositions for simple and unobtrusive measurement in IS research are derived in conclusion.

Keywords

  • Flow theory
  • Psychophysiology
  • Systematic review
  • NeuroIS

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute of Information Systems and Marketing (IISM), Karlsruhe, Germany

    Michael T. Knierim, Raphael Rissler, Verena Dorner, Alexander Maedche & Christof Weinhardt

  2. SAP SE, Walldorf, Germany

    Raphael Rissler

Authors
  1. Michael T. Knierim
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  2. Raphael Rissler
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  3. Verena Dorner
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  4. Alexander Maedche
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  5. Christof Weinhardt
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael T. Knierim .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Information Systems and Quantitative Sciences (ISQS), Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, USA

    Prof. Dr. Fred D. Davis

  2. University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, Steyr, Oberösterreich, Austria

    Prof. Dr. René Riedl

  3. Department of Information Systems, University of Liechtenstein, Vaduz, Liechtenstein

    Prof. Dr. Jan vom Brocke

  4. Department of Information Technology, HEC Montréal, Montreal, Québec, Canada

    Dr. Pierre-Majorique Léger

  5. Department of Information Systems, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, Georgia, USA

    Prof. Dr. Adriane B. Randolph

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Knierim, M.T., Rissler, R., Dorner, V., Maedche, A., Weinhardt, C. (2018). The Psychophysiology of Flow: A Systematic Review of Peripheral Nervous System Features. In: Davis, F., Riedl, R., vom Brocke, J., Léger, PM., Randolph, A. (eds) Information Systems and Neuroscience. Lecture Notes in Information Systems and Organisation, vol 25. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67431-5_13

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