Kotler argues that action and adventure sports athletes have advanced their performance at rates far exceeding other domains, and that the explanation is their systematic access to flow states. He builds on Csikszentmihalyi's work and adds a neurobiological account.
His mechanism combines transient hypofrontality, meaning reduced activity in the prefrontal cortex which removes self-monitoring and the sense of time, with a specific neurochemical combination of norepinephrine, dopamine, endorphins, anandamide and serotonin, which he argues produces both the performance enhancement and the addictive quality of the state.
He identifies triggers that reliably produce flow, grouped as psychological, including clear goals, immediate feedback and challenge slightly exceeding skill; environmental, including high consequences, a rich environment and deep embodiment; social, including shared goals, close listening and equal participation; and creative, meaning pattern recognition and risk. The high consequence trigger is his explanation for why action sports athletes reach the state reliably: the risk of death removes the possibility of divided attention.
The book is heavily criticised on its science. Kotler states neurochemical mechanisms with a confidence that the underlying research does not support, particularly the specific cocktail claims, and much of the neuroscience is inferred rather than measured. The performance advance he documents in action sports is real, and the attribution to flow is asserted. The trigger list is practically useful even where the mechanism is unsupported. Readers should treat the neuroscience sections as speculation.
Readers interested in deliberately producing flow states, taking the trigger list and treating the neuroscience as unsupported.
No entry holds this book yet. It reached the reference because someone recommended it.
Chosen by shared topics, the entries that hold them, and the people who recommended both.