Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have shown that a simple visual technique called “subtle gaze direction,” in which gentle visual cues are used to guide a viewer’s gaze, can be an effective technique to help radiology students learn how to study a mammogram.
The technique takes advantage of our vision’s quick response to brightness, color, and contrast changes in the periphery, which almost forces the eye to move toward the changing scene. By recording an experienced radiologist’s eye movements and using those to steer the gaze of novices, the researchers were able to show that the newbies improved their accuracy in detecting potential tumors better than the control group.
