Thinking Makes It So: Relationship Between Cortical Activity During Mental Imagery and Surgical Skill

IF 2.1 3区医学 Q1 EDUCATION, SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINES

Journal of Surgical Education Pub Date : 2025-07-03 DOI:10.1016/j.jsurg.2025.103596

Nicholas E. Anton MS , Meredith C. Ziliak BS , Christopher M. Thomas MD , Abigail G. Smith BS , Dimitrios Stefanidis MD, PhD

{"title":"Thinking Makes It So: Relationship Between Cortical Activity During Mental Imagery and Surgical Skill","authors":"Nicholas E. Anton MS , Meredith C. Ziliak BS , Christopher M. Thomas MD , Abigail G. Smith BS , Dimitrios Stefanidis MD, PhD","doi":"10.1016/j.jsurg.2025.103596","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>OBJECTIVE</h3><div>The purpose of this study was to assess the association of mental imagery ability with open suturing performance objectively.</div></div><div><h3>DESIGN</h3><div>Participants completed a robust mental imagery assessment battery, mental imagery of simple interrupted suturing while verbalizing each step and having cortical activity measured with an electroencephalogram (EEG), and 2 physical repetitions of simple interrupted suturing. Correlation tests were run to determine relationships among variables.</div></div><div><h3>SETTING</h3><div>The study took place at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, Indiana.</div></div><div><h3>PARTICIPANTS</h3><div>Surgical novices with no prior surgical experience voluntarily participated in this study.</div></div><div><h3>RESULTS</h3><div>No significant correlations were found between subjective MI assessments and suturing performance. However, higher cortical activity in the prefrontal and premotor cortices during mental imagery of suturing was associated with higher performance during the suturing task (all <em>R</em> > 0.5, p < 0.05).</div></div><div><h3>CONCLUSIONS</h3><div>Cortical activity during imagery of open suturing was associated with better actual suturing performance. No self-report imagery assessments were associated with suturing performance, which indicates that EEG may be a more sensitive measure of imagery.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50033,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Surgical Education","volume":"82 9","pages":"Article 103596"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Surgical Education","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1931720425001771","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"EDUCATION, SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINES","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to assess the association of mental imagery ability with open suturing performance objectively.

DESIGN

Participants completed a robust mental imagery assessment battery, mental imagery of simple interrupted suturing while verbalizing each step and having cortical activity measured with an electroencephalogram (EEG), and 2 physical repetitions of simple interrupted suturing. Correlation tests were run to determine relationships among variables.

SETTING

The study took place at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, Indiana.

PARTICIPANTS

Surgical novices with no prior surgical experience voluntarily participated in this study.

RESULTS

No significant correlations were found between subjective MI assessments and suturing performance. However, higher cortical activity in the prefrontal and premotor cortices during mental imagery of suturing was associated with higher performance during the suturing task (all R > 0.5, p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Cortical activity during imagery of open suturing was associated with better actual suturing performance. No self-report imagery assessments were associated with suturing performance, which indicates that EEG may be a more sensitive measure of imagery.

查看原文本刊更多论文

思维使然：大脑皮层活动在心理意象和手术技巧之间的关系

目的客观评价心理意象能力与开放性缝合术的关系。参与者完成了一个强大的心理图像评估电池，简单中断缝合的心理图像，同时口头描述每一步，并通过脑电图（EEG）测量皮质活动，以及2次简单中断缝合的物理重复。运行相关测试以确定变量之间的关系。这项研究在印第安纳州印第安纳波利斯的印第安纳大学医学院进行。参与者：没有手术经验的外科新手自愿参加本研究。结果主观心肌梗死评分与缝合效果无显著相关性。然而，在缝合的心理意象中，前额叶和前运动皮层的高皮层活动与缝合任务中的高表现相关（所有R >； 0.5,p <； 0.05）。结论切开缝合成像时大脑活动与较好的实际缝合效果相关。没有自我报告图像评估与缝合性能相关，这表明脑电图可能是一个更敏感的图像测量。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Journal of Surgical Education EDUCATION, SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINES-SURGERY

CiteScore

5.60

自引率

10.30%

发文量

261

审稿时长

48 days

期刊介绍： The Journal of Surgical Education (JSE) is dedicated to advancing the field of surgical education through original research. The journal publishes research articles in all surgical disciplines on topics relative to the education of surgical students, residents, and fellows, as well as practicing surgeons. Our readers look to JSE for timely, innovative research findings from the international surgical education community. As the official journal of the Association of Program Directors in Surgery (APDS), JSE publishes the proceedings of the annual APDS meeting held during Surgery Education Week.