Medical choices can be life or death, and thus improving the accuracy of diagnostic decisions within a time constrained environment has a large potential for positive change. To that end, an adaptation of Dual Process Theory was developed to create a theoretical framework for medical decision making. In order to effectively measure this framework, a possible electroencephalographical link was investigated. During a complex medical diagnostic task, 52 participants were asked to diagnose what liver condition simulated patients had based on procedurally generated biometric data Feedback was provided during a learning phase until the pattern was learned. During the experimental phase, possible ranges for the biometric data were extended, allowing for increased diagnostic difficulty in some trials, thereby producing conflict for the participants. This difference between the control (Type 1) trials and the high conflict (Type 2) trials was measured using electroencephalography. It was predicted that an elevation in midfrontal theta power would be observed in high-conflict trials, which would provide a neurological correlate for Type 2 processing. This hypothesis was not verified, although several modifications to the experimental design were provided to inform future investigations. It is likely that an improved paradigm would be able to distinguish between the two processes, providing vital neurofeedback that could inform future medical students and emphasize effective learning to improve diagnostic outcomes. / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/11151 |
| Date | 16 September 2019 |
| Creators | Middleton, Jordan |
| Contributors | Krigolson, Olav |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web |
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