EFFECTIVENESS OF 3D DIGITAL VISUALIZATION IN NEUROANATOMY. AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

In the frame of the European Higher Education, the integration of Communication and Information Technology (TIC) in the teaching and learning processes have contributed to the development of visual knowledge representation in order to improve the training quality in disciplines such as neuroantomy. 3D visualization has remained as an advance result of the informatic progress regarding image processing and the current increase in the demand of more accesible digital training resources (e-learning). However, 3D visualization effectiveness in comparison with conventional 2D been as different ways of representing a set of biomedical data has been controversial. Few studies have aimed to empirically evaluate the degree of efectiveness for these resources in tipically neuroanatomical tasks. Recently, the integration or combined 2D/3D visualization, has been proposed as a way overcome the limitations associated to each one of the two modalities separately. Because of this, new empirical studies are needed to evaluate the direction and degree of influence degree of 2D and 3D combined visualization on the students performance in taks involving morphological and spatial comprenhension of brain structures.

Aim: This empirical study analizes the effectiveness of digital 2D/3D combined visualization against conventional 2D visualization of biomedical images. Differencial performance of participants was measured in tasks involving identification/ localization of deep brain structures in static 2D and 2D/3D images.

Method: A web apllication was designed and implemented for the presentation of taks in which participants had to identify and localizate deep brain structures in both original plain 2D images obtained from Visible Human Project (VHP) and combained visualization of those with 3D reconstructions specifically generated for this study. Diferential performance were evaluated based upon different levels of accuracy defined by the number of correct answers and errors in the mentioned tasks for the target structures. Influence in the performance training level of participants and difficulty of brain structures were controlled.

Results: Results reflect the degree in which new digital tools for 3D visualization improve traditional 2D visualization in neuroanatomical teaching/learning contexts, which require the comprehension of morphological and spatial relations of complex 3D brain structures.

Discussion: Implications of the present study for future development of instructional technologies and methodologies in neuroantomy are discussed. They will guarantee the most complete representation avalaible of the morphological and spatial complexity of deep brain structures clinically relevant in neuroimaging.

Conclusion: Combined 2D/3D visualization constitute a digital resource with high pedagogical value in order to optimize the teaching-learning process in neuroanatomy, through the improvement of the performance in identification and localization task for telencephalic and diencephalic structures, hardly accesible and discriminatory from conventional 2D images.