Abstract
The Department of Anatomy enrolls the largest cohort of Pasifika students in the University
of Otago. Despite the gradual increase in numbers, Pasifika anatomy students are persistently
underperforming in their anatomy papers. The cultural significance of tapu related to certain
content involved in the anatomy may explain their struggle to excel. Many New Zealand
European (NZE) students seem to adjust comfortably to anatomy content and materials that
may otherwise be culturally sensitive in Pacific cultures. This ongoing disparity remains as a
concern and indicates a huge gap that should be addressed at an institutional and
departmental level. In this thesis, I examine the visual attention to anatomical images
between New Zealand European (NZE) and Pasifika anatomy students. Using eye-tracking
technology, I assessed visual attention towards plastic model, cadaver and surface anatomy
across various 17 body regions, focusing on three aspects of attention or fixations: total
fixations, first-second fixations and latency to fixations. Our findings indicated no significant
interaction effects of ethnicity and image type on total fixation across all body regions. First
second fixations had significant interaction effects for specific regions like the hand (F(2,180)
= 4.25, p = 0.016), gluteal region (F(2, 180) = 6.80, p = 0.001), shoulders (F(2, 180) = 4.36, p
= 0.014), foot (F(2, 180) = 4.76, p = 0.010), and male perineum (F(2,180) = 5.63, p = 0.004),
with Pasifika students displaying distinct fixation patterns compared to their NZE
counterparts. Additionally, Pasifika students had delayed fixation on the cadaver image of the
gluteal region (F(2, 180) = 5.57, p = 0.004), and faster on-set fixations on the plastic model of
the male perineum (F(2, 180) = 4.10, p= 0.018). Pasifika students also reported being less
comfortable in openly discussing about pelvic and perineum anatomy in class, and they also
perceived more that cultural factors impact how they viewed cadavers as learning tools than
NZE students. Findings from this study suggest that anatomy educational strategies should
consider ethnic and cultural differences in visual attention in order to enhance learning
experiences. Data from this research can be used to inform future educational interventions
aimed at supporting Pasifika and hopefully translate across different academic disciplines.