Information Interface - Volume 34, Issue 3 - August/September 2006

News and information about Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library of interest to users

An ontology-based similarity measurement for problem-based case reasoning

Author name used in this publication: Adela Lau2008-2009 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalAccepted ManuscriptPublishe

Improving Dynamic Decision Making Through Training and Self-Reflection

The modern business environment requires managers to make decisions in a dynamic and uncertain world. In the current study, experimenters investigated the effects of a brief training aimed at improving dynamic decision making (DDM) skills on individual performance in a virtual DDM task. During the training, experimenters explained the DDM process, stressed the importance of self-reflection in DDM, and provided 3 selfreflective questions to guide participants during the task. Additionally, experimenters explored whether participants low or high in self-reflection would perform better in the task and whether participants low or high in self-reflection would benefit more from the training. Participants were 68 graduate business students. They individually managed a computer-simulated chocolate production company called CHOCO FINE and answered surveys to assess self-reflection and demographics. Results showed that students trained in DDM made decisions leading to better management performance in CHOCO FINE compared to untrained students. Self-reflection scores also predicted performance in this virtual business, and participants low in self-reflection benefitted the most from training. Organizations could use DDM training to establish and promote a culture that values selfreflective decision making

Evaluating a cognitive tool built to aid decision making using decision making approach as a theoretical framework and using unobtrusive, behavior-based measures for analysis

Previously I designed and built an interface with the purpose of augmenting decision making within a particular curricular decision making context. The present study explores the usability of the newly created cognitive tool through analyzing its impact upon facilitating decision making. The introduction discusses how different types of cognitive tools facilitate decision making from a cognitive perspective. The present study examines the newly created dashboard by first breaking it into its five constituent regions. The methods section discusses the hypothesized function and usage patterns of each region. The primary research question was whether these different regions would cause participants to exhibit different exploratory behaviors. Differences in usage patterns between regions, combined with the knowledge of how different cognitive tools function, allowed this study to classify the function of each region of the cognitive tool. This study also considered several secondary factors including participant experience with technology, experience with curricular decision making, spatial acuity, and performance. The primary contribution of this study is a technique that offers researchers increased capabilities to conduct unobtrusive research that quantitatively informs interface design. The next step for this research is to extend these methods to focus upon longer-term research questions

Practice conditions leading to the acquisition of perceptual-cognitive-motor processing

In this thesis, specific practice conditions were examined for skill acquisition and transfer of perceptual-cognitive-motor processes underlying dynamic and complex performance. The availability of visual and cognitive processes during practice was modulated to examine contribution of each process to the skill acquisition using a novel computer-based task where participants were required to select and execute decisions to move a cursor to a target whilst avoiding random moving objects. Results demonstrated that practice with necessary information and processes improved the task performance, whereas limiting the underlying processes attenuated skill acquisition. Subsequently, the underlying processes were examined by measuring eye movements and condition-action pairs. Successful skill acquisition was underpinned by the modified visual search and decision making processes through practice. However, limiting necessary sensory information and decoupling cognitive processing during practice developed specific sensorimotor behaviour that did not lead to successful task performance. These results provided an insight of the skill acquisition by suggesting that when a task requires the acquisition of perceptual-cognitive-motor processes to be successful, integration of these processes would be necessary, whereas decoupling of these processes would limit skill acquisition. Moreover, transfer of acquired processes was examined between two tasks. Both tasks required the acquisition of similar perceptual-cognitive processes in order to select successful cursor trajectories, but the main goal differed between tasks. In addition, for both tasks a yoked condition aimed to limit cognitive processes to investigate the role of transfer-appropriate processing in skill acquisition. Results showed positive transfer indicating that practice on another task improved performance on the other task, whereas limiting cognitive processes attenuated the skill acquisition and transfer. Transfer would be maximised when the underlying processes between practice and transfer domain are similar or matched, whereas the transfer would be attenuated when the necessary processes are decoupled during practice. The overall findings extend the research in perceptual-cognitive-motor processes and have several theoretical and applied implications

A situated method for modelling and analysing the efficiency of cognitive activity during the radiology reporting workflow using eye-tracking

The success of modern medical imaging systems has created a data overload problem, where an ever-increasing number of examinations, generate more images per study, which all need to be evaluated by radiologists or other reporting practitioners. This operational bottleneck hasthe potentialto create fatigue and burnout due to the high mental workload that is required to keep up with the demand. The focus of this problem centres around the cognitive complexity of the radiology reporting workflow, and the associated workstation interactions involved in diagnostic report generation. There has been a significant body of work evaluating the behaviour of radiologists using controlled laboratory-based techniques, but these non-naturalistic studies fail to address the highly context dependant nature of the radiology reporting workflow. For example, the early eye-tracking work of Charmody et al; the psychometric studies by Krupinksi et al; and also the workstation interaction evaluations of Moise et al; whilst highly principled, can be all be questioned on the grounds of ecological validity and authenticity. This thesis asserts that the only way to truly understand and resolve the radiology data overload problem, is by developing a situated method for observing the reporting workflow that can evaluate the behaviours of the reporting clinicians in relation to their authentic reporting context. To this end, this study has set out to develop a new approach for observing and analysing the cognitive activities of the reporters relative to the demands of their genuine working environment, and supported through the application of a Critical Realist’s perspective to naturalistic workplace observations. This goal was achieved through the development of four key project deliverables: • An in-depth exploratory study of the radiology overload problem based on an extensive literature review and situated observations of authentic reporting workflows. • A descriptive hierarchical activity modelof the reporting workflow that can be understood by both clinicians, application designers and researchers. • A generalised methodology and research protocolfor conducting situated observations of the radiology reporting workflow, using an analysis based on the process tracing of sequencesof Object Related Actions, captured with eye-tracking and multimodal recordings. • A set of case studies demonstrating the applicability of the research protocol involving 5 Radiology Consultants, 2 Radiology Registrars and one Reporting Radiographer at a single NHS Hospital within the UK. The final workflow evaluation of the case studies demonstrated that activities such as error correction, and the collection of supporting radiological information from previous studies is complex, time consuming and cognitively demanding. These types of activities are characterised by long, low utility actions that correspond to what Kahneman refers to as “Thinking Slow”. Also, the participants appeared to be self-optimising their workflow via a sparse use of complex functionality and system tools. From these observations, the author recommends that any intervention that can reduce the number and the duration of the object related actions used to produce radiology reports, will reduce cognitive load, increase overall efficiency, and go some way to alleviate the data overload problem. 4 This study establishes a new set of situated techniques that are able to capture and quantify the complex dynamicactivities that make up the radiology reporting workflow. Itis hoped that the ability to distil usefuland impactful insightsfrom the user’s workstation behaviours can be used as the basis for further development in the area of workflow analysis and redesign, which will ultimately improve the working lives of Radiologists and other Reporting Clinicians. Lastly, the generic nature of these techniques make them amenable for use within any type of complex sociotechnical human factors study related to the cognitive efficiency of the user