Transfer of expertise: An eye tracking and think aloud study using dynamic medical visualizations

: Gegenfurtner A, Seppänen M

Publisher: PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

: OXFORD; THE BOULEVARD, LANGFORD LANE, KIDLINGTON, OXFORD OX5 1GB, ENGLAND

: 2013

Computers and Education

: Computers & Education

: Comput.Educ.

: 63

: 393

: 403

: 11

: 0360-1315

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2012.12.021

Expertise research has produced mixed results regarding the problem of transfer of expertise. Is expert performance context-bound or can the underlying processes be applied to more general situations? The present study tests whether expert performance and its underlying processes transfer to novel tasks within a domain. A mixed method study using eye-tracking and quantitative and qualitative analyses of think aloud protocols was conducted with medical professionals in radiology and nuclear medicine who diagnosed identical patient cases displayed with three different computer-based imaging technologies: a familiar, a semi-familiar, and an unfamiliar imaging technology. Results indicate that expert performance, as well as its underlying processes, transferred from the familiar to the semi-familiar, but not to the unfamiliar imaging technology. Educational implications of these findings are discussed in terms of their significance for designing technology-enhanced learning environments to promote the transfer of expertise. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.