Representation and Strategy in Diagnostic Problem Solving

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Abstract
Four experiments investigating diagnostic problem solving by clinical neurologists were performed. From protocols or verbal reports of physicians diagnosing neurological diseases we have identified several elementary structures used in clinical decision-making and compared them to some precisely defined information-processing primitives. A separate experiment established the reliability of the protocol information. The use of a tree structure as a representational model of the diagnostic process was tested, but not confirmed. In another experiment we discussed the implications of the elementary structures for the diagnostician's search strategy and noted two more strategy characteristics. Some hypotheses for an alternative representation and strategy were offered and it was suggested that a computer program could be used as a final test of this model.

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