Effects of 2D and 3D image views on hand movement trajectories in the surgeons peripersonal space in a computer controlled simulator environment

TL;DR

This study investigates how 2D and 3D visual views affect surgical hand movement accuracy and speed in a simulator, revealing that viewing modality influences performance depending on target location.

Contribution

It provides a comparative analysis of 2D and 3D visual cues on surgical hand movements, highlighting the impact of viewing modality on precision and timing in a simulated environment.

Findings

3D viewing improved hand movement precision in certain target areas.

2D views negatively affected movement accuracy compared to direct viewing.

Performance varied significantly with target location and viewing modality.

Abstract

In image-guided surgical tasks, the precision and timing of hand movements depend on the effectiveness of visual cues relative to specific target areas in the surgeons peri-personal space. Two-dimensional (2D) image views of real-world movements are known to negatively affect both constrained (with tool) and unconstrained(no tool) hand movements compared with direct action viewing. Task conditions where virtual 3D would generate and advantage for surgical eye-hand coordination are unclear. Here, we compared effects of 2D and 3D image views on the precision and timing of surgical hand movement trajectories in a simulator environment. Eight novices had to pick and place a small cube on target areas across different trajectory segments in the surgeons peri-personal space, with the dominant hand, with and without a tool, under conditions of: (1) direct (2) 2D fisheye camera and (3) virtual 3D viewing (headmounted). Significant effects of the location of trajectories in the surgeons peri-personal space on movement times and precision were found. Subjects were faster and more precise across specific target locations, depending on the viewing modality.