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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 10, 2026

Digital Handwriting Analysis of Characters in Chinese Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment

Digital Handwriting Analysis of Characters in Chinese Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment

Published on: March 11, 2021

Expertise-related functional connectivity changes in Chinese calligraphy linked to flow experience.

Qingyan Kong¹, Yue Wang¹, Min Li²

¹State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Science and Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.

|November 26, 2025

Summary

Long-term expertise in Chinese calligraphy enhances flow states by altering brain connectivity. This neural adaptation supports focused engagement and reduces self-referential processing, linking practice to optimal performance.

Keywords:

Calligraphy Expertise Flow experience Functional connectivity fMRI

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Published on: March 21, 2019

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Psychology
Expertise Studies

Background:

Flow is an optimal performance state, but its neural underpinnings in experts are unclear.
Understanding expertise's role in flow is crucial for optimizing performance and training.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the neural basis of flow in long-term Chinese calligraphy experts.
To examine how expertise influences brain functional connectivity during imagined handwriting tasks.

Main Methods:

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to analyze brain activity and functional connectivity.
Participants performed imagined embodied handwriting of two Chinese calligraphy scripts (Kai-Shu and Cao-Shu).
Bayesian network modeling assessed the relationship between expertise, connectivity, and flow.

Main Results:

Experts reported higher flow than novices, even in challenging scripts.
Experts showed altered functional connectivity: enhanced ventral anterior insula (vAI)-superior parietal lobule (SPL) and reduced vAI-ventral striatum (VS) in Kai-Shu.
Experts exhibited reduced anterior medial prefrontal cortex (aMPFC) connectivity with default mode network (DMN) in Cao-Shu, associated with flow ratings.

Conclusions:

Long-term expertise shapes neural mechanisms supporting flow.
Flexible neural adaptations facilitate task-focused engagement and reduced self-referential processing with increasing task demands.
Expertise influences functional connectivity, which in turn predicts higher flow experiences, demonstrating a pathway from practice to optimal performance.