Why are Escape Room games good for your brain? We will tell you!
You might have thought differently, but the invention of escape rooms was no accident. There is also a fairly serious scientific background to the processes that take place in these kind of games. In addition, well-known Hungarian psychologist (and Szechenyi Prize-winning professor) Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi created the „flow-theory“, which is also apparent during an escape game.
THE FLOW EXPERIENCE
Flow is a state in which one is fully immersed in the activity that he/she is doing. The time, the world, disappears. In this state, people perform well, but do not strain, as if they were carried by a current, hence the name of the theory. In such cases, the person is focused, efficient and feels that he is in control. So you don’t get frustrated even if the work is tiring and takes up a lot of energy, you just do it and enjoy it. The experience can be triggered by any activity because the flow does not depend on the content but rather on the quality of the activity. The most important task is to have a specific goal in front of us.
YOU CAN WORK REALLY WELL WHILE IN FLOW
According to the theory, a person performs the best if the outside world disappears for them due to the concentration and focus they set on their task, and, moreover, they are happier during this flow. According to Csikszentmihalyi, in addition, people who are in flow state often gain a better life quality. Such people also often find joy in their occupation, and it is precisely for this reason that they are able to achieve better-than-average results. Quite the best about it all is that it does not cost them much effort, because they simply let the flow drift them.
DOES WORK MAKE YOU HAPPIER THEN?
People most often encounter such tasks at their workplace, hence they also have the best chance to feel the flow-experience there. Earlier, in childhood, the flow state was experienced during periods of play in their free time. If someone spends their free time passively, let’s say in front of the TV, they shut themselves off from the flow experience, and depend on this source of happiness exclusively at work.
FLOW EXPERIENCE IN THE ESCAPE ROOMS
Escape rooms offer a great opportunity to get the idea of the flow experience because everything is there so that players can focus exclusively on the very specific task ahead. The escape rooms create an atmosphere and mood that helps players to leave their thoughts behind and focus only on the actual task they are doing. It is rarely given, even at work, that someone can experience this feeling in 60 minutes, even if they really like what they do. If someone is not lucky enough, to have the chance to experience the flow at work, it can be even more helpful to play an escape room, even for therapeutic purposes. Moreover, the escape room gives a little more because it is an opportunity to feel the flow-experience in a community.
