September 2024
Volume 24, Issue 10
Open Access
Vision Sciences Society Annual Meeting Abstract  |   September 2024
Comparison Training Improves Perceptual Learning of Skin Cancer Diagnoses
Author Affiliations & Notes
  • Victoria L. Jacoby
    University of California, Los Angeles
  • Christine Massey
    University of California, Los Angeles
  • Philip Kellman
  • Footnotes
    Acknowledgements  This research was supported by National Institutes of Health award R01CA236791 to PK and CM. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the NIH.
Journal of Vision September 2024, Vol.24, 1270. doi:https://doi.org/10.1167/jov.24.10.1270
  • Views
  • Share
  • Tools
    • Alerts
      ×
      This feature is available to authenticated users only.
      Sign In or Create an Account ×
    • Get Citation

      Victoria L. Jacoby, Christine Massey, Philip Kellman; Comparison Training Improves Perceptual Learning of Skin Cancer Diagnoses. Journal of Vision 2024;24(10):1270. https://doi.org/10.1167/jov.24.10.1270.

      Download citation file:


      © ARVO (1962-2015); The Authors (2016-present)

      ×
  • Supplements
Abstract

Perceptual learning of complex classifications has largely used trials in which a learner makes a categorization response to a single presented instance. Some prior research, however, suggests simultaneous comparisons of items from different categories can enhance processes of perceptual learning that facilitate successful categorization. Little work has directly compared how the concurrent learning of multiple perceptual classifications may differ when training emphasizes active comparison of items as opposed to individual item classification. We tested the effectiveness of paired comparisons for learning the differential diagnosis of 10 categories of benign and cancerous skin lesions. A Paired Comparisons condition, in which a learner was presented on each trial with a category label and required to choose between instances from two different categories, was compared to Single-Classification and Dual-Classification conditions, where instances of one or two categories were presented for classification on each trial. Novice participants were given a 40-min learning period before completing immediate and one-week delayed posttests on the classification of novel exemplars. Importantly, these assessments used the standard single-classification trial format regardless of the learning condition that preceded it. Results: In the learning phase, participants in the Paired Comparisons condition were able to complete significantly more trials than those in the classification conditions (large effect sizes), suggesting the relative ease of this trial type. In the posttests, classification accuracy reliably favored the Paired Comparisons condition, both immediately following learning, as well as after a one-week delay (all medium effect sizes). The Single- and Dual-Classification conditions did not reliably differ from each other on any learning or assessment measures. These results indicate that training based on paired comparisons can promote more efficient learning and generalization of complex categories than the more standard classification-based approaches.

×
×

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

Sign in or purchase a subscription to access this content. ×

You must be signed into an individual account to use this feature.

×