The experience of being “in the zone” is often used to describe a cognitive state of mind known as flow. A person enters a state of flow when highly engaged with a task, often losing track of time and enjoying a high level of success.
Cesar Torres, assistant professor in the Computer Science and Engineering Department at The University of Texas at Arlington, has recently received a grant of approximately $175,000 from the National Science Foundation to use machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to identify when a person is falling out of flow and introduce an intervention to regain flow.
Torres’s research intermingles computer science and maker culture, drawing inspiration from activities that naturally produce states of flow, such as sewing, embroidering and knitting. In his study, he will use off-the-shelf sensors to capture how study participants enter…
