Watching diagnoses develop: Eye movements reveal symptom processing during diagnostic reasoning

authored by: Agnes Scholz, Josef F. Krems, Georg Jahn
Abstract: Finding a probable explanation for observed symptoms is a highly complex task that draws on information retrieval from memory. Recent research suggests that observed symptoms are interpreted in a way that maximizes coherence for a single likely explanation. This becomes particularly clear if symptom sequences support more than one explanation. However, there are no existing process data available that allow coherence maximization to be traced in ambiguous diagnostic situations, where critical information has to be retrieved from memory. In this experiment, we applied memory indexing, an eye-tracking method that affords rich time-course information concerning memory-based cognitive processing during higher order thinking, to reveal symptom processing and the preferred interpretation of symptom sequences. Participants first learned information about causes and symptoms presented in spatial frames. Gaze allocation to emptied spatial frames during symptom processing and during the diagnostic response reflected the subjective status of hypotheses held in memory and the preferred interpretation of ambiguous symptoms. Memory indexing traced how the diagnostic decision developed and revealed instances of hypothesis change and biases in symptom processing. Memory indexing thus provided direct online evidence for coherence maximization in processing ambiguous information.
Organisation(s): Institute of Psychology
External Organisation(s): Chemnitz University of Technology (CUT)
Type: Article
Journal: Psychonomic Bulletin and Review
Volume: 24
Pages: 1398-1412
No. of pages: 15
ISSN: 1069-9384
Publication date: 2017
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Developmental and Educational Psychology, Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.3758/S13423-017-1294-8 (Access: Unknown)

BibTeX

@article{2ef73c9a264044e588045ae394a9d4b5,
title = "Watching diagnoses develop: Eye movements reveal symptom processing during diagnostic reasoning",
abstract = "Finding a probable explanation for observed symptoms is a highly complex task that draws on information retrieval from memory. Recent research suggests that observed symptoms are interpreted in a way that maximizes coherence for a single likely explanation. This becomes particularly clear if symptom sequences support more than one explanation. However, there are no existing process data available that allow coherence maximization to be traced in ambiguous diagnostic situations, where critical information has to be retrieved from memory. In this experiment, we applied memory indexing, an eye-tracking method that affords rich time-course information concerning memory-based cognitive processing during higher order thinking, to reveal symptom processing and the preferred interpretation of symptom sequences. Participants first learned information about causes and symptoms presented in spatial frames. Gaze allocation to emptied spatial frames during symptom processing and during the diagnostic response reflected the subjective status of hypotheses held in memory and the preferred interpretation of ambiguous symptoms. Memory indexing traced how the diagnostic decision developed and revealed instances of hypothesis change and biases in symptom processing. Memory indexing thus provided direct online evidence for coherence maximization in processing ambiguous information.",
keywords = "Coherence maximization, Diagnostic reasoning, Eye movements, Memory indexing, Process tracing",
author = "Agnes Scholz and Krems, {Josef F.} and Georg Jahn",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2017, Psychonomic Society, Inc.",
year = "2017",
doi = "10.3758/S13423-017-1294-8",
language = "English",
volume = "24",
pages = "1398--1412",
journal = "Psychonomic Bulletin and Review",
issn = "1069-9384",
publisher = "Springer New York",
number = "5",
}