title: Skill acquisition in skin cancer detection.
abstract: Previous research has shown that the ability to detect potentially dangerous skin lesions is not improved by viewing a pamphlet describing the characteristic features of such lesions. A different approach to improving this skill was investigated in this study. 100 student recruits were tested to investigate the effect of practice at distinguishing between dangerous and nondangerous skin lesions. Around 30 minutes of such practice, viewing 360 pictures of skin lesions, provided a significant advantage in making decisions about a target set of dangerous and nondangerous lesions, compared to no practice or practice with a filler task. Viewing a skin cancer pamphlet for 5 min. at the beginning of the experiment made no difference to the speed or accuracy of decisions regarding the test lesions. The results are interpreted as evidence for a form of implicit learning of a skin cancer detection skill, a finding that is consistent with what is known of the nature of expertise in dermatologists. The results also point to the ineffectiveness of pamphlets to engender such expertise in the general public.
authors.affiliation: Edith Cowan University, School of Psychology and Social Science, Joondalup, Western Australia. c.speelman@ecu.edu.au
authors.forename: Craig
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Speelman
authors.forename: Katie
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Flower
authors.forename: Terry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Simpson
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention; D001364:Awareness; D002280:Basal Cell Carcinoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003617:Dangerous Behavior; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D008545:Melanoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D010174:Pamphlets; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011214:Practice, Psychological; D011930:Reaction Time; D016353:Self-Examination / Q000523:psychology*; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology