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In the last decade, robotic surgery has enhanced doctors’ capabilities and enabled surgeons to operate complex procedures even through smaller incisions. Due to the increasing trend of using of robotic surgery there is a need for training the surgeons of different disciplines including urology, general surgery, gynecology, cardiovascular surgery, endocrine surgery and thoracic surgery. Training surgeons with the robotic surgery simulator (RSS) is the common and initial procedure. This study focuses on monitoring training effect of robotic surgery simulators with neurophysiological assessment via functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and with the embedded scoring systems of the RSS. fNIRS allow researchers to record hemodynamic responses within the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in response to stimuli. Cortical oxygenation changes of the PFC from participants were monitored while they were performing suturing tasks with various difficulty levels. Twenty four resident surgeons from two different disciplines without prior robotic surgery experience (mean age ± SD = 28.25 ± 1.98 years19 OB&GYN residents, 5 general surgery residents) completed the experimental protocol consisting of two standard training blocks. On both blocks, participants completed suture sponge tasks on three different difficulty levels. Simulator scoring provided task performance assessment of each trainee. Participants’ oxygen consumption levels were higher on the first block, where they familiarized themselves with the suturing task using RSS. On the second block, oxygen consumption levels decreased while performance scores significantly increased compared to the first block.

Training of healthcare providers, throughout their undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate includes a wide range of simulation based training modalities. Serious gaming has become an important training modality besides other simulation systems and serious gaming based educational modules have been implemented into the educational curriculum of nursing training. The aim of this study was to investigate whether functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) for monitoring hemodynamic response of the prefrontal cortex can be used as an additional tool for evaluating performances of nursing students in the intravenous catheterization training. The twenty three participants were recruited for this study. The novice group consisted of fifteen untrained nursing students and the expert group had eight senior nurses. Training performances of students evaluated over, pre and posttest scores and fNIRS measurements from task trainer application. Novice group completed the protocol on four sessions on four different days. On day 1 and day 30, they performed on task trainer procedure. On day 2 and day 7, participants of the novice group were trained only by using the Virtual Intravenous Simulator Module. The expert group only performed on the task trainer on days 1 and 30. Participants’ performance scores and fNIRS results of the 1st and 30th day training sessions were compared. fNIRS measurements revealed significant changes in prefrontal cortex (PFC) region oxygenation of novice group, while their post-test scores increased. Our findings suggests that, fNIRS could be used as an objective, supportive assessment techniques for effective monitor of expertise development of the nursing trainees.

The wealth management industry has been one of the prime beneficiaries of the digitization wave, with incessantly growing investment from fintech companies to develop new online platforms. The current methods of evaluating the effectiveness, usability, and ease of use of these web platforms are rudimentary and subjective, as they rely largely on traditional survey measures and may fail to uncover critical usability issues with a platform. When companies launch such web platforms, early adopter users are usually faced with an array of issues, ranging from ineffective navigation to poor layout, which may cause consumers to lose trust and eventually switch to other brands and services. There has been a long-standing need to develop more effective methods to assess web platforms. We propose and empirically validate a multimodal approach that combines traditional methods (survey and performance measures) with physiological (eye-tracking and neuroimaging) measures to enable more holistic and rigorous testing of web platforms. This approach overcomes the limitations of traditional methods and enables a more comprehensive usability assessment.

Math anxiety is a problem that faces most people in their everyday life. Past research suggests that math anxiety can lead consumers to make errors in numerical computations. In this study, we utilized brain-based measures for the assessment of math anxiety in relationship to price perceptions. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) from the prefrontal cortex was measured to determine differences in responses between high and low math anxiety participants. Participants performed two tasks under load and no-load conditions performing math calculations in relation to a price promotion. Preliminary results indicate that there is a performance difference between low and high math anxiety participants in both oxygenated hemoglobin results and behavioral performance. This study outlines a new method for determining how math anxiety affects consumers’ decisions regarding prices.

Most wealth management firms offer online platforms where investors with varied levels of comfort with technology manage their portfolios. Past research shows that comfort with technology is crucial for users’ acceptance of new technologies. We investigated how users’ comfort level with technology influences their use of a new wealth management online platform. We used a multi-modal approach that incorporates survey, behavioral, eye-tracking and neural measures to assess investors’ comfort with technology on web-platform usability to provide a rigorous test of the effects of comfort with technology on usability experiences for a wealth management firm. Our findings suggest that traditional survey measures do not show any differences in users’ evaluations. However, behavioral and neurophysiological measures reveal insights that traditional survey measures fail to reveal.

Consistent with the Neuroergonomics approach, brain activities measured in response to viewing of natural stimuli in everyday settings could be used to assess audience preferences. In this study, we record brain activity from a group of naive individuals while viewing popular, previously broadcast television content, Super Bowl advertisements using functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), a wearable neuroimaging technique that utilizes near infrared light to measure cortical oxygenation changes. Results indicate that brain activation predicts the self-reported rating by a broad audience.

Price or cost of ownership remains the most influential decision driver for consumers when shopping for a product or service. In the current competitive retail environment, for consumers to have a good experience at a store, such price information needs to appear in a location (right or left) where consumers are most likely to look at while shopping. This study used neural correlates to identify the location where consumers are most likely to expect price information to be present during a shopping experience.