Nery Borges, a PhD researcher at INET-md, Helena Marinho and Sofia Serra, integrated researchers at INET-md, and Marcos Araújo and Anabela Pereira are the authors of the article “Mapping the relationship between flow experience and music performance anxiety: a scoping review”, published in open access in the journal Frontiers in Psychology.
This scoping review mapped 17 empirical studies examining the relationship between Flow Experience (FE) and Music Performance Anxiety (MPA) in music performance and music education contexts. The findings indicate a predominantly negative association between FE and MPA across dispositional, situational, and psychophysiological measures. Nevertheless, moderate levels of anxiety may coexist with flow when appraised as a challenge rather than a threat. Emotional self-regulation, self-efficacy, and self-esteem emerged as significant mediating variables, while interventions such as yoga, mindfulness, and self-regulation training demonstrated effectiveness in reducing MPA and enhancing the propensity for FE. The synthesis highlights the existence of a dynamic continuum between FE and MPA, suggesting that anxiety regulation may function not only as an inhibitory mechanism but also as a potential facilitator of flow states. However, an integrated understanding of this relationship remains methodologically fragmented, underscoring the need for future research employing multimodal and longitudinal designs to advance knowledge of the underlying mechanisms shaping the interaction between these constructs. If you tell me whether this is for an article, conference abstract, or INET-md website, I can refine the tone even further to match that exact format.