Cognitive Skills Analysis, Kinesiology, and Mental Imagery in the Acquisition of Surgical Skills

Effectiveness of a comprehensive mental skills curriculum in enhancing surgical performance: Results of a randomized controlled trial

“…These findings are in contrast to previously published studies that have demonstrated a clear advantage of mental imagery in surgical skill acquisition and performance. [26][27][28][29] An explanation for the small effect we observed in this study could be related to differences in study designs; the majority of previous studies have focused on having novices perform surgical procedures and have not implemented proficiency-based training [26][27][28] as was the case in this study. Also, Arora et al…”

Does mental imagery prior to cystoscopy make a difference? A randomized controlled trial

“…1,8–10 Mental imagery has been found to be an effective tool to teach medical students cricothyrotomy in a simulated situation as well as animal suturing in an operating department suite. 9,10 Recently, consistent with the dual coding theory of cognition, mental imagery was also found to be a more effective tool than textbook study among medical students. 7 …”

Application of Mental Skills Training in Surgery: A Review of Its Effectiveness and Proposed Next Steps

“…17 Further, Eldred-Evans et al (2013) assigned medical students to training groups that included fundamentals of laparoscopic surgery simulation (FLS) training only, laparoscopic virtual reality (VR) and FLS training, or FLS and imagery practice. 18 The group that received the combined FLS and imagery training significantly outperformed the other groups in several measures of laparoscopic skills (i.e., time to complete procedure, accuracy, precision, and overall performance on FLS box and VR simulator tasks).…”

“…Imagery has been shown to be a cost-effective training supplement to physical practice that cuts down on resource consumption, [12][13]17,23,29,31 and enhances surgeons' performance through improved acquisition and performance of surgical skills, [13][14][15][16][18][19]22,24,[29][30] knowledge, 11,23,26 confidence, 23,[26][27] and team-based skills. 25 …”