Attention and medical diagnosis

Donovan, Tim ORCID logo ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4112-861X (2010) Attention and medical diagnosis. In: Goldstein, E. Bruce, (ed.) Encyclopedia of perception. SAGE Publications, Los Angeles, US, pp. 119-121. Full text not available from this repository.

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Official URL: http://www.uk.sagepub.com/books/Book229708

Abstract

When a radiologist is presented with a medical image, be it a radiograph or the many hundreds of images generated from a computerized tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner, he or she needs to make sense of the images, which are representations of the human body, and perceive pathology among the different ambiguous shapes, shades and contours. Abnormalities are normally perceived quickly, as eye tracking has demonstrated, with pathology usually looked at within the first two or three fixations. It takes many cases and years of training to become proficient in interpreting medical images as perceptual discrimination is learned and acquired knowledge is converted into a variety of cognitive strategies and cognitive skills. This process is still not fully understood, but it seems practice with feedback is the only way to achieve clinically acceptable performance. Medical imaging has seen many developments in equipment, including the recent move away from film to digital technologies. Research has, however, demonstrated that error rates during the past 50 years remain resistant to these improvements and changes in technology. This demonstrates the importance of perceptual and cognitive factors in the performance of radiologists when interpreting medical images. This entry discusses eye movements, models of medical image perception, searching medical images, and decision processes.

Item Type: Book Section
Publisher: SAGE Publications
ISBN: 9781412940818
Departments: Academic Departments > Medical & Sport Sciences (MSS) > Health and Medical Sciences
Depositing User: Insight Administrator
Date Deposited: 14 Oct 2011 12:47
Last Modified: 12 Jan 2024 09:00
URI: https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/1028
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