Young children with ASD have intact alerting attention, but less-efficient orienting and executive attention.

Background Problem solving practice involving paper‐and‐pencil solutions is a common activity in undergraduate engineering training. This paper addresses three questions: What indicators of problem‐solving skill are available in paper‐and‐pencil solutions, beyond a simple accuracy measure? Can these indicators distinguish between problem solvers in terms of their skill level? How can these indicators be used to improve the effectiveness of instructor feedback to problem‐solving exercises? Purpose(Hypothesis) Based on the published literature on cognition and problem solving, several indicators were hypothesized to signal knowledge and skill: an accurate free‐body diagram, specification of assumptions, accurate expansion of key principles, strategic (forward) inferences, and checking equations and solutions. Design/Method A mixed experimental methodology was applied that combined qualitative and quantitative analyses. The qualitative data was comprised of paper‐and‐pencil solutions and video recordings of participants while they solved problems. Frequency counts of skill indicators and grader‐assigned scores comprised the quantitative data. Results Statistical tests confirmed that the hypothesized indicators were associated with individuals' level of skill. However, reliable evidence for these indicators was only partially found in the paper‐and‐pencil solutions and could only be firmly established by including data from the video recordings. Conclusion The results show that paper‐and‐pencil solutions can be diagnostic of the strengths and weaknesses of problem‐solvers. However, to provide useful and reliable feedback to students, these solutions must be supplemented with additional input, possibly through regular structured sampling throughout a course, or through more extensive use of computer resources.

The results indicate that 90° and 135° sideways laparoscope placements may result in worse performance for novices in the laparoscopic environment, indicating potentially longer learning curves for these conditions in the laparoscopic as well as other teleoperation environments.

Prior research has indicated that novices experienced a beneficial stress profile in the robotic surgery (da Vinci) training environment when compared to the laparoscopic surgery training environment. The objective of this study was to assess whether this finding generalizes to expert surgeons. Towards that end, first-year residents' and attending surgeons' performances and subjective stress experiences were assessed in a surgical training task that was performed with the da Vinci and laparoscopic surgery interfaces. This study indicated that both groups exhibited superior performance and lower stress with the da Vinci surgical system than the laparoscopic system. The results provide further support for the sensitivity of the Dundee Stress State Questionnaire in identifying different stress responses experienced by trainees and experts in the minimally invasive surgery environment.

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