As legend has it, the physicist Sir Isaac Newton was inspired to formulate his theory of gravitation after watching an apple fall from a tree. In a similar way, those with careers in psychology may be stirred to investigate the impulses behind human behavior after witnessing some external phenomena. While Newton's apple has been studied in about every way imaginable, exploration of dorm room video games may be the next frontier of scientific study.

Clive Fullager and Patrick Knight, psychology professors at Kansas State University, have begun to study college students playing the popular video game Rock Band to glean insight on how people can achieve a comfortable work flow while performing skilled tasks.

The researchers noticed that a student's enjoyment while playing the game was linked to the challenge presented by a selected song and the participant's ability to perform the skill to meet the challenge.

According to Fullager, "That has broad implications for teaching. It means that if we want students to enjoy or get a lot of satisfaction out of classes, we need to assign them challenging tasks but make sure that they have the skills necessary to meet the challenges of those tasks."

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that employment of psychologists will grow by 15% until at least 2016, which is faster than the average for all occupations.