PERCEPTUAL SKILL, RADIOLOGY EXPERTISE, AND VISUAL TEST-PERFORMANCE WITH NINA AND WALDO

Rationale and Objectives. The goal of this study was to determine if r adiologists possess superior visual search and analysis skills compare d with those of laypeople. Materials and Methods. In two experiments, radiologists and laypeople searched one of two complex pictorial scene s for hidden targets. Eye position was recorded during the search. Two measures of performance were obtained:: accuracy of detecting targets as measured by using alternative free response receiver operating cha racteristic analysis and visual search efficiency as measured by using eye position analysis. Results. There were no statistically significa nt differences in detection performance between radiologists and le fo r either of the search tasks. Radiologists took longer on average to s earch the images and to first fixate on the targets than did the laype ople. For both groups, true-positive and false-positive decisions were associated ger dwell times than true-negative decisions. As with radi ology search tasks, false-negative decisions were also associated with longer dwell times than true-negative decisions. Conclusion. Performa nce on two visual search and detection tasks indicate that radiologist s do not possess superior visual skills compared with laypeople. Radio logy expertise is more likely to be a combination of specific visual a nd cognitive skills derived from medical training and experience in de tecting and determining the diagnostic importance of radiographic find ings.