Measuring users’ mental strain when performing technology based surgical tasks on a surgical simulator using thermal imaging technology

Information Systems (IS) researchers rely heavily on self-report measures, especially when studying the use, impact and adoption of Information Technology(IT). Recently psycho physiological and neuro physiological tools have been presented as an efficient way to gather measures and improve IS theory. The study presents thermal imaging as a technology that can be used to uncover different dimensions of IT constructs such as mental strain in high-tech contexts. Mental strain is an important factor in understanding the effects of using a new IT. Such complementary measures to self-reported scales can be used to triangulate results and reduce common method variance. In this paper we describe the use of thermal imagery to assess the effectiveness of curriculum protocols in handling stress when learning technology based surgery. Practical applications of the use of thermal imagery are then presented and discussed.