Cognitive Science in Medicine ― Biomedical Modeling

Biomedicine has become one of the best-modeled domains from several perspectives --artificial intelligence, psychology, and the social sciences; yet few studies have combined thesepoints of view. In this book, the interdisciplinary strengths of cognitive science offer freshinsights into biomedical problem solving.

Cognitive Science inMedicine presents current research that focuses on issues and results in applyingtechniques from cognitive science to problems in biomedicine. It includes material by researcherswho have worked in both areas and is unique in linking models of physician knowledge with models ofphysician behavior.

David Evans discusses issues of cognitive science in medicinein his introduction; and in a chapter with Cindy Gadd and Harry Pople, deals with the problem ofmanaging coherence and context in medical problem-solving discourse. Vimla Patel, Evans, and GuyGroen provide experimental data that illuminates the role of biomedical knowledge in clinicalreasoning; and Patel, Evans, and David Kaufman offer a cognitive science framework for analysis ofclinical interviews.

Other contributors and subjects include: Clark Glymour on theempirical and representational issues in cognitive and medical science; Alan Lesgold on multilevelmodels of expertise; Arthur Elstein, James Dodd, and Gerald B. Holzman on the analysis of estrogenreplacement decisions among residents; Kenneth R. Hammond, Elizabeth Frederick, Nichole Robillard,and Doreen Victor on the features of the student-teacher dialog in medicine; Naomi Rodolitz andWilliam J. Clancey on tutoring for strategic knowledge; Paul J. Feltovich, Rand J. Spiro, andRichard L. Coulson on the foundations of misunderstanding in established medical knowledge; John K.Vries, Evans, and Peretz Shoval on the development of semantic networks for medical informationretrieval; and John Bruer, with a preface on the implications of cognitive-scientific studies formedical education.

A Bradford Book

David A. Evans is Assistant Professor of Linguistics and Computer Science at Carnegie-Mellon University.