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Riaz et al. Mini-invasive Surg 2018;2:28 Mini-invasive Surgery
DOI: 10.20517/2574-1225.2018.41

Original Article Open Access

Effect of mental training on short-term psychomotor
skill acquisition in laparoscopic surgery - a pilot study

Mohammad K Riaz, Abdul Muiz Shariffuddin, Benjie Tang, Afshin Alijani

Cuschieri Skills Centre, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 9SY, UK.

Correspondence to: Mr. Mohammad K Riaz, Cuschieri Skills Centre, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 9SY, UK.
E-mail: dr-riaz@doctors.org.uk

How to cite this article: Riaz MK, Shariffuddin AM, Tang B, Alijani A. Effect of mental training on short-term psychomotor skill
acquisition in laparoscopic surgery - a pilot study. Mini-invasive Surg 2018;2:28.
http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2574-1225.2018.41

Received: 27 May 2018 First Decision: 1 Aug 2018 Revised: 2 Aug 2018 Accepted: 2 Aug 2018 Published: 15 Sep 2018
Science Editor: Charles F. Bellows Copy Editor: Huan-Liang Wu Production Editor: Zhong-Yu Guo

Abstract
Aim: The mental demands of laparoscopic surgery create a steep learning curve for surgical trainees. Experienced
surgeons informally conduct mental training prior to starting a complex laparoscopic procedure. Reconstructing haptic
feedback to mentally observe surgeon-instrument-tissue interaction is considered to be acquired only with experience.
An experiment was devised to implement mental training for the haptic feedback reconstruction and its effect on
laparoscopic task performance was observed.

Methods: Twenty laparoscopy novice medical students with normal/corrected visual acuity and normal hearing were
randomised into two groups. Both groups were asked to apply a pre-established consistent force by means of retracting
a laparoscopic grasper fixed to an electronic weight scale. Studied group underwent mental training while control group
conducted a laparoscopic task as a distraction exercise. Accuracy of the task performance was measured as primary
outcome. Performance between dominant and non-dominant hands was the secondary outcome.

Results: Baseline assessment of both dominant and non-dominant hands between groups were similar (P > 0.05).
Mental training group improved their performance (0.66 ± 0.04) vs. (1.06 ± 0.14) with dominant hand (P < 0.01) and
(0.73 ± 0.04) vs. (1.10 ± 0.20) with non-dominant hand (P < 0.05), when compared with control group.

Conclusion: In a laparoscopic task performance, skill transfer is significantly accurate if mental haptic feedback
reconstruction is achieved through mental training.

Keywords: Mental training, target force, haptic feedback

© The Author(s) 2018. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use,
sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as long
as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license,
and indicate if changes were made.

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