Digital pathology: the effect of experience on visual search behavior

Area of Science:

• Digital pathology
• Pathology informatics
• Ophthalmology

Background:

• Whole slide imaging (WSI) and digital pathology allow detailed analysis of pathologist visual search behavior.
• Understanding how experience influences visual processing is crucial for optimizing digital pathology workflows.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between pathologist experience and visual search behaviors, including zooming and panning.
• To identify how visual processing capabilities change with increasing experience in digital pathology.

Main Methods:

• Five pathologists with 1.5-40 years of experience examined 20 digitized breast core needle biopsy slides.
• Eye-tracking cameras recorded visual fixations, while an algorithm extracted zooming and panning behaviors.
• Mixed-effects regression analyses examined the association between experience and visual metrics.

Main Results:

• Increased pathologist experience correlated with reduced reading times and fewer fixations, alongside improved diagnostic accuracy.
• Greater experience was significantly associated with increased use of magnification changes (zooming).
• Less experienced pathologists spent a proportionally greater amount of time panning.

Conclusions:

• Fewer fixations and quicker reading times in digital pathology reflect enhanced cognitive and visual processing with experience.
• Increased experience may necessitate and facilitate more frequent zooming for efficient diagnosis.