Seeing with Hands

This article addresses the role of perceptual learning in the development of surgical skill. We propose perceptual learning, specifically haptic memory and active touch, provide the durable foundations of professional surgical skill, which cannot be replaced by the cognitive models that dominate many teaching modalities. To substantiate this, we combine ethnographic interviews with craftsmen, specifically artists and surgeons to establish haptic sensibilities in common, and an analytic framework built on an embodiment paradigm to illustrate shared properties and advantages of perceptual learning to the development of craft skill. Our research demonstrates the live edge between actual bodies of patients, cadavers, 3D models, and the surgeon’s senses is more vital to the development and improvement of skill than standardized reliance on the propositional and cognitive grasp of procedural rules

Computer Science · Surgical Simulation and Training · Tactile and Sensory Interactions · Teleoperation and Haptic Systems