Influence of depth perception on performance and time evaluation in minimal access surgery

This study aimed to evaluate the impact of depth perception on surgical tasks performance and time evaluation. 98 novice subjects performed a fine surgical task with a new laparoscopic technology (da Vinci robotic system). They were divided in two groups, one using 3D view option and another using 2D view option. We measured time performance and asked subjects to evaluate their time performance. Our results showed subjects performed significantly quicker with robotic system in 3D than with robotic system in 2D. We obtained a significant interaction between time performance and time evaluation: in 2D condition, subjects accurately evaluated their time performance while in 3D condition, subjects evaluated their time performance as being longer than their real performance and even than real or evaluated performances of subjects in 2D condition. Our findings emphasize the role of 3D in improving performance and the contradictory feeling about time evaluation in 2D and 3D.