Information-gathering and attentional strategies: individual differences in medical students

Information-gathering in medical students was investigated by means of a new system for classifying the questions asked in the clinical interview. The students interviewed two patients of the same age and sex at a clinic for a chronic condition. Analysis of video tapes of these interviews revealed wide variation among the students in their use of five types of questions. It was hypothesized that this variation could be traced to individual differences in four attentional strategies. This hypothesis was confirmed, suggesting that some attentional factors in the interviewer play a role in how the patient is interrogated.