The impact of distance between displays on visual scanning in the laparoscopic training environment: The role of effort

The laparoscopic environment induces high attentional demands on operators due to the perceptual-motor distortions inherent in this environment. Further, successful surgical outcomes necessitate surgeons to have adequate situation awareness of the patient and the surgery. Thus, surgeons need to obtain information that is often displayed visually at different locations in the operating theater, requiring visual scanning. The present study assessed the impact of the distance between different displays on visual scanning behavior when performing a concurrent laparoscopic training task. The results of the present study have practical implications for laparoscopic surgery, indicating that critical information displayed visually should be located close to the monitor that displays the target tissue. Further, relatively difficult laparoscopic procedures (e.g., those with increased disruption of hand-eye mapping) might result in longer viewing times, and thus critical information might not be attended to because of decreased frequency of visual scanning.