The Aperture Illusion can Occur with “3-D” Displays and Active Control: Implications for Minimally-Invasive Surgery

Abstract

When a moving contour is viewed through a circular aperture, observers misperceive the contour's direction of motion. This aperture illusion is relevant to minimally-invasive surgery because surgeons view anatomical tissues through a reduced field-of-view. In prior studies of the illusion, observers passively viewed simple computer-generated displays of moving lines. Here, it is demonstrated that the illusion can occur with displays created with a 3-D laparoscopic simulator, and when participants actively control the movement of a surgical grasper. However, the illusion was smaller with active control than with passive viewing, and was smaller with a rectangular aperture than with a circle or octagon. The implication is that navigation during MIS may improve when surgeons (rather than assistants) actively control the camera, and when the aperture that frames the laparoscopic image is rectangular. Future studies of this kind will improve the design of image-guided technologies and reduce complications during MIS.

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