TY - JOUR
T1 - Medical students' cognitive load in volumetric image interpretation
T2 - Insights from human-computer interaction and eye movements
AU - Stuijfzand, Bobby G.
AU - van der Schaaf, Marieke F
AU - Kirschner, Femke C.
AU - Ravesloot, Cécile J.
AU - Van Der Gijp, Anouk
AU - Vincken, Koen L.
PY - 2016/9/1
Y1 - 2016/9/1
N2 - Medical image interpretation is moving from using 2D- to volumetric images, thereby changing the cognitive and perceptual processes involved. This is expected to affect medical students' experienced cognitive load, while learning image interpretation skills. With two studies this explorative research investigated whether measures inherent to image interpretation, i.e. human-computer interaction and eye tracking, relate to cognitive load. Subsequently, it investigated effects of volumetric image interpretation on second-year medical students' cognitive load. Study 1 measured human-computer interactions of participants during two volumetric image interpretation tasks. Using structural equation modelling, the latent variable 'volumetric image information' was identified from the data, which significantly predicted self-reported mental effort as a measure of cognitive load. Study 2 measured participants' eye movements during multiple 2D and volumetric image interpretation tasks. Multilevel analysis showed that time to locate a relevant structure in an image was significantly related to pupil dilation, as a proxy for cognitive load. It is discussed how combining human-computer interaction and eye tracking allows for comprehensive measurement of cognitive load. Combining such measures in a single model would allow for disentangling unique sources of cognitive load, leading to recommendations for implementation of volumetric image interpretation in the medical education curriculum.
AB - Medical image interpretation is moving from using 2D- to volumetric images, thereby changing the cognitive and perceptual processes involved. This is expected to affect medical students' experienced cognitive load, while learning image interpretation skills. With two studies this explorative research investigated whether measures inherent to image interpretation, i.e. human-computer interaction and eye tracking, relate to cognitive load. Subsequently, it investigated effects of volumetric image interpretation on second-year medical students' cognitive load. Study 1 measured human-computer interactions of participants during two volumetric image interpretation tasks. Using structural equation modelling, the latent variable 'volumetric image information' was identified from the data, which significantly predicted self-reported mental effort as a measure of cognitive load. Study 2 measured participants' eye movements during multiple 2D and volumetric image interpretation tasks. Multilevel analysis showed that time to locate a relevant structure in an image was significantly related to pupil dilation, as a proxy for cognitive load. It is discussed how combining human-computer interaction and eye tracking allows for comprehensive measurement of cognitive load. Combining such measures in a single model would allow for disentangling unique sources of cognitive load, leading to recommendations for implementation of volumetric image interpretation in the medical education curriculum.
KW - Cognitive load
KW - Eye tracking
KW - Human-computer interaction
KW - Medical education
KW - Volumetric image interpretation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84963705524&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.chb.2016.04.015
DO - 10.1016/j.chb.2016.04.015
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84963705524
SN - 0747-5632
VL - 62
SP - 394
EP - 403
JO - Computers in Human Behavior
JF - Computers in Human Behavior
ER -