Teaching human anatomy before during and after COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal study on kinesiology students' performance, cognitive load, and congruent embodied learning.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, anatomy educators have demonstrated their ability to respond to face-to-face (F2F) teaching restrictions and offer emergency remote teaching and learning (ERTL) approach. Another educational model that was intensified during COVID-19 was blended learning (BL) which is a combination of F2F and online settings. Studies on the effects of the methods employed during COVID-19 pandemic on anatomy students' learning outcomes are sparse and show slightly similar but nuanced results.

Spatial Abilities and Endodontic Access Cavity Preparation: Implications for Dental Education.

Introduction: Access cavity preparation is a crucial step in root canal treatment but is one of the most complex procedures in the curriculum to learn, with students often reporting spatial orientation difficulties during drilling. The present study aimed to evaluate the influence of spatial abilities on the preparation of endodontic access cavities among third-year dental students.

Materials And Methods: Students from Lyon dental faculty participated voluntarily.

Learning functional human anatomy with a new interactive three-dimensional digital tool.

Human anatomy requires understanding spatial relationships among anatomical structures and is often perceived as difficult to learn by students. To overcome this concern, several digital tools exist with some strengths and limitations among which the lack of interactivity especially for complex functional anatomy learning. In this way, a new interactive three-dimensional tool called Antepulsio was designed.

Modelling response time in a mental rotation task by gender, physical activity, and task features.

Mental rotation (MR) is a spatial skill considered to be a key-component of intellectual ability. Studies have suggested that the response time (RT) in a MR task (MRt) might be influenced, with possible gender differences, by the practice of a physical activity (PA) and depending on the plane, direction, degrees of the MR and the frame of reference to perform it. The present study aimed at examining the respective influences of all these variables on the RT by developing a linear mixed-effect model from the RTs varying according to the MR plane, direction, degrees and frame of reference.

Exploring the impact of interactive movement-based anatomy learning in real classroom setting among kinesiology students.

Descriptive and functional anatomy is one of the most important sciences for kinesiology students. Anatomy learning requires spatial and motor imagery abilities. Learning anatomy is complex when teaching methods and instructional tools do not appropriately develop spatial and motor imagery abilities.

A haptic laparoscopic trainer based on affine velocity analysis: engineering and preliminary results.

Background: There is a general agreement upon the importance of acquiring laparoscopic skills outside the operation room through simulation-based training. However, high-fidelity simulators are cost-prohibitive and elicit a high cognitive load, while low-fidelity simulators lack effective feedback. This paper describes a low-fidelity simulator bridging the existing gaps with affine velocity as a new assessment variable.

The therapeutic role of motor imagery during the chronic phase after total knee arthroplasty: a pilot randomized controlled trial.

Background: There is now ample evidence that motor imagery contributes to enhance motor learning and promote motor recovery in patients with motor disorders. Whether motor imagery practice is likely to facilitate mobility in patients suffering from knee osteoarthritis, at 6-months after total knee arthroplasty, remains unknown.

Aim: This trial was designed to evaluate the therapeutic effectiveness of implementing motor imagery into the classical course of physical therapy at 6-months after total knee arthroplasty.

Implementing Cognitive Training Into a Surgical Skill Course: A Pilot Study on Laparoscopic Suturing and Knot Tying.

Mini-invasive surgery-for example, laparoscopy-has challenged surgeons' skills by extending their usual haptic space and displaying indirect visual feedback through a screen. This may require new mental abilities, including spatial orientation and mental representation. This study aimed to test the effect of cognitive training based on motor imagery (MI) and action observation (AO) on surgical skills.

The therapeutic role of motor imagery during the acute phase after total knee arthroplasty: a pilot study.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to measure physical and functional outcomes during the acute postoperative recovery in patients who underwent total knee arthroplasty. Motor imagery has been shown to decrease pain and promote functional recovery after both neurological and peripheral injuries. Yet, whether motor imagery can be included as an adjunct effective method into physical therapy programs following total knee arthroplasty remains a working hypothesis that we aim to test in a pilot study.

How spatial abilities and dynamic visualizations interplay when learning functional anatomy with 3D anatomical models.

The emergence of dynamic visualizations of three-dimensional (3D) models in anatomy curricula may be an adequate solution for spatial difficulties encountered with traditional static learning, as they provide direct visualization of change throughout the viewpoints. However, little research has explored the interplay between learning material presentation formats, spatial abilities, and anatomical tasks. First, to understand the cognitive challenges a novice learner would be faced with when first exposed to 3D anatomical content, a six-step cognitive task analysis was developed.

Physiological changes in response to apnea impact the timing of motor representations: a preliminary study.

Background: Reduced physiological arousal in response to breath-holding affects internal clock processes, leading swimmers to underestimate the time spent under apnea. We investigated whether reduced physiological arousal during static apnea was likely to affect the temporal organization of motor imagery (MI).

Methods: Fourteen inter-regional to national breath-holding athletes mentally and physically performed two 15 m swimming tasks of identical durations.

Impact of neurologic deficits on motor imagery: a systematic review of clinical evaluations.

Motor imagery (MI, the mental representation of an action without engaging in its actual execution) is a therapeutically relevant technique to promote motor recovery after neurologic disorders. MI shares common neural and psychological bases with physical practice. Interestingly, both acute and progressive neurologic disorders impact brain motor networks, hence potentially eliciting changes in MI capacities.

Effectiveness of three-dimensional digital animation in teaching human anatomy in an authentic classroom context.

Three-dimensional (3D) digital animations were used to teach the human musculoskeletal system to first year kinesiology students. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of this method by comparing two groups from two different academic years during two of their official required anatomy examinations (trunk and upper limb assessments). During the upper limb section, the teacher used two-dimensional (2D) drawings embedded into PowerPoint(®) slides and 3D digital animations for the first group (2D group) and the second (3D group), respectively.

The therapeutic role of motor imagery on the functional rehabilitation of a stage II shoulder impingement syndrome.

Purpose: Motor imagery (MI) has been used as a complementary therapeutic tool for motor recovery after central nervous system disease and peripheral injuries. However, it has never been used as a preventive tool. We investigated the use of MI in the rehabilitation of stage II shoulder impingement syndrome.

Hand mental rotation is not systematically altered by actual body position: Laterality judgment versus same-different comparison tasks.

It is commonly believed that during mental rotation of body parts, participants tend to imagine their own body part moving toward the stimulus, thus using an egocentric strategy. Several studies have also shown that the mental rotation of hands is affected by the actual hand position, especially if the hand is kept in an awkward position. However, this hand posture effect, as well as the use of an egocentric strategy during mental rotation of body parts, is not systematic.

Selective effect of physical fatigue on motor imagery accuracy.

While the use of motor imagery (the mental representation of an action without overt execution) during actual training sessions is usually recommended, experimental studies examining the effect of physical fatigue on subsequent motor imagery performance are sparse and yielded divergent findings. Here, we investigated whether physical fatigue occurring during an intense sport training session affected motor imagery ability. Twelve swimmers (nine males, mean age 15.

Enhancement of mental rotation abilities and its effect on anatomy learning.

Background: Mental rotation (MR) is improved through practice and high MR ability is correlated to success in anatomy learning.

Purposes: We investigated the effects of improving the MR ability on the Vandenberg and Kuse MR test performance and the consequences on learning functional human anatomy.

Methods: Forty-eight students were assigned into three groups: MR group (16 students attending functional anatomy course and MR training), anatomy group (16 students attending the same functional anatomy course), and the control group (n = 16).