Research

Bachelor’s thesis · Sigmund Freud University, Milan · 2025

Psychology of Flow in Video Games

What happens to players’ brain and body during Flow? A PRISMA systematic review bridging psychology and game design.

Method

PRISMA 2020 · 11 peer-reviewed studies, 2012–2025

Supervisor

Prof. Mattia Nese

Tools

PubMed, EBSCOhost, Zotero, Rayyan

Thesis grade

1, the highest

Key findings

• Focused arousal. A moderate rise in heart rate, lower heart-rate variability and higher electrodermal activity.
• Focused, not stressed. Prefrontal oxygenation rises; theta and alpha waves dominate while beta and gamma drop.
• Flow peaks at optimal difficulty. Too easy breeds boredom, too hard breeds anxiety.
• Personality matters. Shyness and gaming experience change how intensely Flow is felt.

For design

• Difficulty that adapts to each player’s behaviour, not just to fixed tiers.
• Biofeedback during development and playtesting.
• Personality-aware options, so more anxious players can reach Flow too.

Academic research · Sigmund Freud University, Milan

Childhood sexual abuse and adult intimacy

How does childhood sexual abuse shape adult intimacy and sexual health? A qualitative study of survivor experiences, through thematic analysis.

My role

Co-researcher & visual designer

Method

Focus groups, interviews, thematic analysis

• Bias reduction. Each interviewer only analysed transcripts they hadn’t collected; consent and trigger warnings were built into the protocol.
• The infographic. I turned the study into a comic-book page with a clear top-left to bottom-right reading flow, to make heavy research accessible without clinical distance.