7 Dec 98
Henry M. Halff

[quoting Hedden, 6 Dec 98] Retrospective questionnaires, although I used them in addition to the mid-play variety, do not measure flow directly; they record one's impression whether one has experienced flow, and are therefore less reliable than the mid-stream variety, whereby the question-answer activity and the target activity are temporally juxtaposed.
[quoting Marshall, 7 Dec 98.d] How do you find out if somebody is in a state of flow without interrupting the state of flow? As I stated earlier, I think observing people using software is a very valuable research activity. ... I haven't tried video taping people working in the environments, but I have often thought it would be extremely useful to do so.

So--has anyone conducted pupillometric studies of computer game playing? Strikes me as being a relatively easy thing to do, and could be informative w.r.t. the neurophysiological concomitants of engagement or flow or whatever.

[This is not a invitation to a flame war on the role of physiology in the study of learning.]

Henry M. Halff
Mei Technology Corporation
8930 Fourwinds Drive, Suite 450
San Antonio, TX 78239

Phone: (210) 655-8911
Fax: (210) 590-3338
E-mail: henry@texas.net