Quantitative Analysis of Eye Control in Surgical Skill Assessment

Minimal access surgery, in particular endoscopy and including bronchoscopy and laparoscopy, is characterized by complex instrument control, lack of tactile perception and restriction in vision and mobility. Consequently, a high degree of operator skill is required and special emphasis on training. Many aspects of this skill are centered on eye-hand coordination tasks in which eye control plays an essential part.

Eye control involves the ability to control the temporal and spatial characteristics of one's voluntary eye movements, in particular scanning speed and smoothness, and targeting precision. Different subjects have different degrees of eye control, as can be seen, for example, when they are asked to write their names in space with their eyes alone.

The Eye Control project (2001-2004) from which this research originated, was a Wellcome Trust funded project comparing visual search strategies in art (e.g. in observational drawing) and in medicine (e.g. in X-ray diagnosis). It was undertaken jointly with Imperial College Computing Department whose role was confined to providing eye track equipment and processing the medical part of the data.

In parallel to addressing the specialist, our main emphasis was to generate enthusiasm amongst a younger generation of potential scientists and artists. This was achieved on the science side with the Royal Society exhibition display (see 1.1) which was voted as the 2nd most popular display of the show. On the art side, we were invited by David Hockney and Alan Jones to exhibit at the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Show 2004 examples of free-eye drawing (drawn with the eyes alone) by four international artists.

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