Perception of Patients' Faces by Dermatocosmetologists Depending on Their Medical Practice Experience
In medicine, experience has a significant impact on perceptual diagnostic strategies. This is shown in research in the field of radiological diagnostics, surgery and plastic surgery, analysis of histological preparations, and ECG analysis. The aim of this study is to analyze the patterns of oculomotor activity of dermatocosmetologists with different experience in diagnostics. The sample consisted of 33 dermatocosmetologists with work experience from 0 to 24 years. The task for the study participants was to visually search for dermatological disorders in patients' faces photographs, during the process eyes movements were recorded using the Neurobureau complex on the GP3HD eye tracker. The parameters of oculomotor activity were analyzed, such as the number of fixations, average fixation duration, total viewing time, and total scan path length. Correlation analysis made it possible to identify the relationship between the work experience of a dermatocosmetologist and the indicators of oculomotor activity performed by them when viewing a patient's face in the process of diagnostics. As the experience increases, the number of fixations and the length of the scanpath decrease, and the duration of fixations increases. Viewing heat maps revealed that novice dermatocosmetologists perform a large number of disordered eye movements, fixing themselves on the entire surface of the face. With the increasing experience of a doctor, the fixations are combined into clusters corresponding to the reference diagnostic points. All this makes it possible to increase the speed of searching for pathologies and making a diagnosis. The findings are compatible to the results of the comparison of eye movements between novice doctors and experts in other areas of medical diagnostics.