This Article 
   
 Share 
   
 Bibliographic References 
   
 Add to: 
 
Digg
Furl
Spurl
Blink
Simpy
Google
Del.icio.us
Y!MyWeb
 
 Search 
   
A Comparative Study of Haptic Stiffness Identification by Veterinarians and Students
April-June 2011 (vol. 4 no. 2)
pp. 78-87
ASCII Text
x 
 
Neil Forrest, Sarah Baillie, Patrick Kalita, Hong Z. Tan, "A Comparative Study of Haptic Stiffness Identification by Veterinarians and Students," IEEE Transactions on Haptics, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 78-87, April-June, 2011.
 
 
BibTex
x
 
@article{ 10.1109/TOH.2010.57,
author = {Neil Forrest and Sarah Baillie and Patrick Kalita and Hong Z. Tan},
title = {A Comparative Study of Haptic Stiffness Identification by Veterinarians and Students},
journal ={IEEE Transactions on Haptics},
volume = {4},
number = {2},
issn = {1939-1412},
year = {2011},
pages = {78-87},
doi = {http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/TOH.2010.57},
publisher = {IEEE Computer Society},
address = {Los Alamitos, CA, USA},
}
 
 
RefWorks Procite/RefMan/Endnote
x 
 
TY - JOUR
JO - IEEE Transactions on Haptics
TI - A Comparative Study of Haptic Stiffness Identification by Veterinarians and Students
IS - 2
SN - 1939-1412
SP78
EP87
EPD - 78-87
A1 - Neil Forrest,
A1 - Sarah Baillie,
A1 - Patrick Kalita,
A1 - Hong Z. Tan,
PY - 2011
KW - Stiffness perception
KW - stiffness identification
KW - comparison of users
KW - veterinary medicine
KW - education
KW - training.
VL - 4
JA - IEEE Transactions on Haptics
ER -
 
Neil Forrest, University of London, London
Sarah Baillie, University of London, London
Patrick Kalita, The MathWorks, Inc., Natick
Hong Z. Tan, Purdue University, West Lafayette
Palpation is an important clinical skill in both veterinary and medical health professions. The present study compares the ability of practicing veterinarians and veterinary students to identify the stiffness of virtual surfaces through palpation. An absolute identification paradigm was used where a force-feedback haptic device rendered virtual surfaces with five levels of stiffness within a “clinically relevant” range (0.2-0.5 N/mm). The mean information transfer was 0.97 bits (almost two perfectly identifiable stiffness levels) for 12 veterinarians and 0.58 bits (one correctly identified level) for 14 veterinary students. Although the difference between the two groups was significant ({\rm p} < 0.001), neither group was able to reliably identify more than two levels of stiffness, indicating that the success of veterinarians in clinical practice probably relies on additional properties such as size, shape, and texture. Analyses of force versus time and displacement versus time recordings suggest that the superior performance of the veterinarians may be partially attributable to motor strategy. Specifically, veterinarians used a greater mean maximum force (2.0 N) compared to students (1.6 N) ({\rm p} < 0.05). However, further studies are required to investigate motor strategy in more detail. The implications of our findings for veterinary education and quantitative skill assessment are discussed.

[1] N. Forrest, S. Baillie, and H.Z. Tan, "Haptic Stiffness Identification by Veterinarians and Novices: A Comparison," Proc. World Haptics Conf. (WHC '09), pp. 646-651, 2009.
[2] C.M. Pugh, W.L. Heinrichs, P. Dev, S. Srivastava, and T.M. Krummel, "Use of a Mechanical Simulator to Assess Pelvic Examination Skills," J. Am. Medical Assoc., vol. 286, no. 9, pp. 1021-1023, 2001.
[3] Y. Kuroda, M. Nakao, T. Kuroda, H. Oyama, and M. Komori, "Interaction Model between Elastic Objects for Haptic Feedback Considering Collisions of Soft Tissue," Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine, vol. 80, no. 3, pp. 216-224, 2005.
[4] G. Burdea, G. Patounakis, V. Popescu, and R.E. Weiss, "Virtual Reality-Based Training for the Diagnosis of Prostate Cancer," IEEE Trans. Biomedical Eng., vol. 46, no. 10, pp. 1253-1260, Oct. 1999.
[5] M.O. Alhalabi, V. Daniulaitis, H. Kawasaki, and T. Hori, "Medical Training Simulation for Palpation of Subsurface Tumor Using HIRO," Proc. World Haptics Conf. (WHC '05), pp. 623-624, 2005.
[6] R.L. WilliamsII, M. Srivastava, R.R. ConatserJr., and J.N. Howell, "Implementation and Evaluation of a Haptic Playback System," Haptics-e: The Electronic J. Haptics Research, vol. 3, no. 3,http:/www.haptics-e.org/, 2004.
[7] S. Baillie, A. Crossan, S. Brewster, D. Mellor, and S. Reid, "Validation of a Bovine Rectal Palpation Simulator for Training Veterinary Students," Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, vol. 111, pp. 33-36, 2005.
[8] S. Baillie, D. Mellor, S. Brewster, and S. Reid, "Integrating a Bovine Rectal Palpation Simulator into an Undergraduate Veterinary Curriculum," J. Veterinary Medical Education, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 79-85, 2005.
[9] S.J. Lederman and R.L. Klatzky, "Hand Movements: A Window into Haptic Object Recognition," Cognitive Psychology, vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 342-368, 1987.
[10] S.J. Lederman, "Tactual Roughness Perception: Spatial and Temporal Determinants," Canadian J. Psychology, vol. 37, no. 4, pp. 498-511, 1983.
[11] S.J. Lederman, R.L. Klatzky, C.L. Hamilton, and G.I. Ramsay, "Perceiving Roughness via a Rigid Probe: Psychophysical Effects of Exploration Speed and Mode of Touch," Haptics-e: The Electronic J. Haptics Research, vol. 1, no. 1,http:/www.haptics-e.org/, 1999.
[12] A. Israr, Y. Li, V. Patoglu, and M.K. O'Malley, "Passive and Active Discrimination of Natural Frequency of Virtual Dynamic Systems," IEEE Trans. Haptics, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 40-51, Jan.-Mar. 2009.
[13] S.J. Blakemore, D. Wolpert, and C. Frith, "Why Can't You Tickle Yourself?," NeuroReport, vol. 11, no. 11, pp. 11-16, 2000.
[14] H.Z. Tan, S. Yang, Z. Pizlo, P. Buttolo, and M. Johnston, "Manual Detection of Spatial and Temporal Torque Variation through a Rotary Switch," IEEE Trans. Haptics, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 96-107, July-Sept. 2008.
[15] S. Baillie, A. Crossan, N. Forrest, and S. May, "Developing the 'Ouch-O-Meter' to Teach Safe and Effective Use of Pressure for Palpation," Proc. Int'l Conf. Haptics: Perception, Devices and Scenarios (EuroHaptics '08), pp. 912-917, 2008.
[16] G.A. Gescheider, Psychophysics: The Fundamentals, third ed. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1997.
[17] W.R. Garner, Uncertainty and Structure as Psychological Concepts. Wiley, 1962.
[18] H.Z. Tan, "Identication of Sphere Size Using the PHANToM: Towards a Set of Building Blocks for Rendering Haptic Environment," Proc. Sixth Int'l Symp. Haptic Interfaces for Virtual Environment and Teleoperator Systems, pp. 197-203, 1997.
[19] L.A. Jones and I.W. Hunter, "A Perceptual Analysis of Stiffness," Experimental Brain Research, vol. 79, no. 1, pp. 150-156, 1990.
[20] H.Z. Tan, N.I. Durlach, G.L. Beauregard, and M.A. Srinivasan, "Manual Discrimination of Compliance Using Active Pinch Grasp: The Roles of Force and Work Cues," Perception and Psychophysics, vol. 57, no. 4, pp. 495-510, 1995.
[21] G. De Gersem, "Kinaesthetic Feedback and Enhanced Sensitivity in Robotic Endoscopic Telesurgery," PhD dissertation, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 2005.
[22] S.A. Cholewiak, H.Z. Tan, and D.S. Ebert, "Haptic Identification of Stiffness and Force Magnitude," Proc. Symp. Haptic Interfaces for Virtual Environment and Teleoperator Systems, pp. 87-91, 2008.
[23] S. Baillie, A. Crossan, S. Brewster, and S. Reid, "Preliminary Development and Evaluation of a Bovine Rectal Palpation Simulator for Training Veterinary Students," Cattle Practice, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 101-106, 2003.
[24] N.I. Durlach and L.D. Braida, "Intensity Perception. I. Preliminary Theory of Intensity Resolution," J. Acoustical Soc. Am., vol. 46, no. 2, pp. 372-383, 1969.
[25] G.A. Miller, "Note on the Bias of Information Estimates," Information Theory in Psychology: Problems and Methods, H. Quastler, ed., pp. 95-100, The Free Press, 1954.
[26] W.M. Rabinowitz, A.J.M. Houtsma, N.I. Durlach, and L.A. Delhorne, "Multidimensional Tactile Displays: Identification of Vibratory Intensity, Frequency, and Contactor Area," J. Acoustical Soc. Am., vol. 82, no. 4, pp. 1243-1252, 1987.
[27] H.Z. Tan, W.M. Rabinowitz, and N.I. Durlach, "Analysis of a Synthetic Tadoma System as a Multidimensional Tactile Display," J. Acoustical Soc. Am., vol. 86, no. 3, pp. 981-988, 1989.
[28] W.M. Bergmann Tiest and A.M.L. Kappers, "Cues for Haptic Perception of Compliance," IEEE Trans. Haptics, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 189-199, Oct.-Dec. 2009.
[29] W.M. Bergmann Tiest and A.M.L. Kappers, "Kinaesthetic and Cutaneous Contributions to the Perception of Compressibility," Proc. Int'l Conf. Haptics: Perception, Devices and Scenarios (EuroHaptics '08), pp. 255-264, 2008.
[30] M.A. Srinivasan and R.H. LaMotte, "Tactual Discrimination of Softness," J. Neurophysiology, vol. 73, no. 1, pp. 88-101, 1995.
[31] E.P. Scilingo, M. Bianchi, G. Grioli, and A. Bicchi, "Rendering Softness: Integration of Kinaesthetic and Cutaneous Information in a Haptic Device," IEEE Trans. Haptics, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 109-118, Apr.-June 2010.
[32] M. Kuschel, M.D. Luca, M. Buss, and R.L. Klatzky, "Combination and Integration in the Perception of Visual-Haptic Compliance Information," IEEE Trans. Haptics, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 234-244, Oct.-Dec. 2010.
[33] S. Choi, L.A. Walker, H.Z. Tan, S. Crittenden, and R. Reifenberger, "Force Constancy and Its Effect on Haptic Perception of Virtual Surfaces," ACM Trans. Applied Perception, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 89-105, 2005.
[34] R.L. Kneebone, "Twelve Tips on Teaching Basic Surgical Skills Using Simulation and Multimedia," Medical Teacher, vol. 21, no. 6, pp. 571-575, 1999.

Index Terms:
Stiffness perception, stiffness identification, comparison of users, veterinary medicine, education, training.
Citation:
Neil Forrest, Sarah Baillie, Patrick Kalita, Hong Z. Tan, "A Comparative Study of Haptic Stiffness Identification by Veterinarians and Students," IEEE Transactions on Haptics, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 78-87, April-June 2011, doi:10.1109/TOH.2010.57
Usage of this product signifies your acceptance of the Terms of Use.