Blended and interactive learning by means of serious games may be applied to train both technical and non-technical skills relevant to the surgical field. Games developed or used for this purpose need validation before integration into surgical teaching curricula.

Five experiments investigated immediate memory for drawings of familiar objects in children of different ages. The aims were to demonstrate younger children's greater dependence on visual working memory and to explore the nature of this memory system. Experiment 1 showed that visual similarity of drawings impaired recall in young (5-year-old) children but not in older (!Oyear-old) children. Experiment 2 showed that younger and older children were affected in contrasting ways when the temporal order of recall was manipulated. Experiment 3 explored a recency effect found in backward recall and investigated its sensitivity to the presentation modality of materials used to produce retroactive interference

In the past few decades, the task of judging the credibility of information has shifted from trained professionals (e.g., editors) to end users of information (e.g., casual Internet users). Lacking training in this task, it is highly relevant to research the behavior of these end users. In this article, we propose a new model of trust in information, in which trust judgments are dependent on three user characteristics: source experience, domain expertise, and information skills. Applying any of these three characteristics leads to different features of the information being used in trust judgments; namely source, semantic, and surface features (hence, the name 3S-model). An online experiment was performed to validate the 3S-model. In this experiment, Wikipedia articles of varying accuracy (semantic feature) were presented to Internet users. Trust judgments of domain experts on these articles were largely influenced by accuracy whereas trust judgments of novices remained mostly unchanged. Moreover, despite the influence of accuracy, the percentage of trusting participants, both experts and novices, was high in all conditions. Along with the rationales provided for such trust judgments, the outcome of the experiment largely supports the 3S-model, which can serve as a framework for future research on trust in information.

Research on expert‐novice differences has mainly focused on how experts solve familiar problems. We know far less about the skills and knowledge used by experts when they are confronted with novel problems within their area of expertise. This article discusses a study in which verbal protocols were taken from subjects of various expertise designing an experiment in an area with which they were unfamiliar. The results showed that even when domain knowledge is lacking, experts solve a novel problem within their area of expertise by dividing the problem into a number of subproblems that are solved in a specified order. The lack of domain knowledge is compensated for by using abstract knowledge structures and domain‐specific heuristic strategies. However, the quality of their solutions is considerably lower than the quality attained by experts who were familiar with the type of problem to be solved. The results suggest that when experts are confronted with novel problems as compared with familiar problems, their form of reasoning remains intact, but the content of their reasoning suffers due to lack of domain knowledge.

Wearable physiological measurement devices for ambulatory research with novel sensing technology are introduced with ever increasing frequency, requiring fast, standardized, and rigorous validation of the physiological signals measured by these devices and their derived parameters. At present, there is a lack of consensus on a standardized protocol or framework with which to test the validity of this new technology, leading to the use of various (often unfit) methods. This study introduces a comprehensive validity assessment protocol for physiological signals (electrodermal activity and cardiovascular activity) and investigates the validity of the E4 wearable (an example of such a new device) on the three levels proposed by the protocol: (1) the signal level, with a crosscorrelation; (2) the parameter level, with Bland-Altman plots; and (3) the event level, with the detection of physiological changes due to external stressor levels via event difference plots. The results of the protocol show that the E4 wearable is valid for heart rate, RMSSD, and SD at the parameter and event levels, and for the total amplitude of skin conductance responses at the event level when studying strong sustained stressors. These findings are in line with the prior literature and demonstrate the applicability of the protocol. The validity assessment protocol proposed in this study provides a comprehensive, standardized, and feasible method for assessment of the quality of physiological data coming from new wearable (sensor) technology aimed at ambulatory research.

Troubleshooting is often a time-consuming and difficult activity. The question of how the training of novice technicians can be improved was the starting point of the research described in this article. A cognitive task analysis was carried out consisting of two preliminary observational studies on troubleshooting in naturalistic settings, combined with an interpretation of the data obtained in the context of the existing literature. On the basis of this cognitive task analysis, a new method for the training of troubleshooting was developed (structured troubleshooting), which combines a domain-independent strategy for troubleshooting with a context-dependent, multiple-level, functional decomposition of systems. This method has been systematically evaluated for its use in training. The results show that technicians trained in structured troubleshooting solve twice as many malfunctions, in less time, than those trained in the traditional way. Moreover, structured troubleshooting can be taught in less time than can traditional troubleshooting. Finally, technicians learn to troubleshoot in an explicit and uniform way. These advantages of structured troubleshooting ultimately lead to a reduction in training and troubleshooting costs.

With the rise of user-generated content, evaluating the credibility of information has become increasingly important. It is already known that various user characteristics influence the way credibility evaluation is performed. Domain experts on the topic at hand primarily focus on semantic features of information (e.g., factual accuracy), whereas novices focus more on surface features (e.g., length of a text). In this study, we further explore two key influences on credibility evaluation: topic familiarity and information skills. Participants with varying expected levels of information skills (i.e., high school students, undergraduates, and postgraduates) evaluated Wikipedia articles of varying quality on familiar and unfamiliar topics while thinking aloud. When familiar with the topic, participants indeed focused primarily on semantic features of the information, whereas participants unfamiliar with the topic paid more attention to surface features. The utilization of surface features increased with information skills. Moreover, participants with better information skills calibrated their trust against the quality of the information, whereas trust of participants with poorer information skills did not. This study confirms the enabling character of domain expertise and information skills in credibility evaluation as predicted by the updated 3S-model of credibility evaluation.

Background: Surgical errors result from faulty decision-making, misperceptions and the application of suboptimal problem-solving strategies, just as often as they result from technical failure. To date, surgical training curricula have focused mainly on the acquisition of technical skills. The aim of this review was to assess the validity of methods for improving situational awareness in the surgical theatre.Methods: A search was conducted in PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library and PsycINFO ® using predefined inclusion criteria, up to June 2014. All study types were considered eligible. The primary endpoint was validity for improving situational awareness in the surgical theatre at individual or team level.Results: Nine articles were considered eligible. These evaluated surgical team crisis training in simulated environments for minimally invasive surgery (4) and open surgery (3), and training courses focused at training non-technical skills (2). Two studies showed that simulation-based surgical team crisis training has construct validity for assessing situational awareness in surgical trainees in minimally invasive surgery. None of the studies showed effectiveness of surgical crisis training on situational awareness in open surgery, whereas one showed face validity of a 2-day non-technical skills training course. Conclusion:To improve safety in the operating theatre, more attention to situational awareness is needed in surgical training. Few structured curricula have been developed and validation research remains limited. Strategies to improve situational awareness can be adopted from other industries.