Download PDF
Methods Inf Med 1994; 33(04): 382-389
DOI: 10.1055/s-0038-1635045
Original Article
Schattauer GmbH

Representation of Medical Concepts of the Thyroid Gland by Physicians in Anatomy and Pathology

L. Pellegrin
2   Centre de Recherche en Psychologie Cognitive,U.F.R. de Psychologie et Sciences de l’Education, Université Aix-Marseille I, Aix-en-Provence, France
,
C. Bastien
2   Centre de Recherche en Psychologie Cognitive,U.F.R. de Psychologie et Sciences de l’Education, Université Aix-Marseille I, Aix-en-Provence, France
,
M. Roux
1   Laboratoire de Biomathématique, Statistique et Informatique Médicale, Faculté de Médecine de Marseille, Université Aix-Marseille II, Marseille, France
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
08 February 2018 (online)

    Permissions and Reprints

Abstract:

An experimental study in cognitive psychology is described, concerning the categorization of medical concepts into specific classes, expressed by physicians specialized in anatomic pathology consultations of the thyroid gland. This study belongs to a medical computer science project, called ARISTOTLE, concerning Natural Language Processing of specialized medical reports in anatomic pathology of the thyroid gland. This research has been done for two reasons: first, to specify the characteristics of human expert categorization in an area of medical knowledge and, secondly, to validate the hierarchical organization of a prototype declarative knowledge base. In this experiment, physicians were asked to categorize 121 concepts into 10 proposed classes. These classes and concepts belong to expert knowledge represented in a conceptual graph that was constructed before the experiment. Results show variable semantic distances between concepts of a same class, and dynamic variations of these distances due to contextual representation.

Keywords

Thyroid Gland - Medical Knowledge - Categorization - Context Representation - Semantic Networks
 

  • REFERENCES

  • 1 Roux M, Guisiano B, Ledoray V, De Micco C. Analyse et compréhension des comptes rendus médico-techniques: structure et implementation de la connaissance. ITBM 1989; 10: 501-16.
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 2 Ledoray V. La Sémantique dans PAnalyse de Comptes Rendus Médico-Techniques Rédigés en Francais: Applications à F Anatomie Pathologique de la Thyroïde. Thèse de l’Université de Paris 7,1991.
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 3 Ledoray V. Etude d’un corpus de textes: 70 comptes rendus d’anatomo-pathologie de la thyroïde. Mini-colloque de Bio-Mathématique et Bio-Informatique. Lamoura 1990; 117-9.
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 4 Djezvedjian R. Analyse de Automatique de Comptes Rendus Médico-Techniques: des Besoins à la Réalisation. These pour le Doctorat en Médecine, Aix-Marseille II, 1988
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 5 Abdi H. La mémoire sémantique: une fille de [‘intelligence artificielle et de la psychologie: quelques éléments biographiques. In: Bonnet C, Hoc JM, Tiberghien G. eds. Psychologie, Intelligence Artificielle et Automatique. Bruxelles: Pierre Mardaga; 1986: 139-51.
    Google Scholar
  • 6 Le Ny JF. Science Cognitive et Compréhension du Langage. Paris: PUF, 1989
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 7 Collins AM, Quillians MR. Retrieval time from semantic memory. J Verb Learn Verb Behavior 1969; 08: 240-7.
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 8 Brachman RJ, Schmolze JG. An overview of the KL-ONE knowledge representation system. Cogn Science 1985; 09: 176-216.
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 9 Sowa JF. Principles of Semantic Networks: Exploration in the Representation of the Knowledge. San Mateo: Morgan Kaufmann; 1991
    Google Scholar
  • 10 Humphreys B, Lindberg DAB. Building the unified medical language system. Proceedings of SCAMC 1989. Washington DC: IEEE Computer Society Press; 1989: 475-80.
    Google Scholar
  • 11 Rassinoux AM, Boud RH, Scherrer JR. Conceptual graphs for knowlegde representation of medical texts. In: Lun KC, Degoulet P, et al. eds. MEDINFO 92. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publ Comp; 1992: 1368-74.
    Google Scholar
  • 12 Dujols P, Aubas P, Godard P. et al. Integrated networks and medical communications. In: Salamon R, Blum B, Joergensen M. eds. MEDINFO 86. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publ Comp; 1986: 348-51.
    Google Scholar
  • 13 Woods WA. What’s a link: foundation for semantic networks. In: Bobrow DG, Collins MA. eds. Representation and Understanding: Structure in Cognitive Science. New York: Academic Press; 1975: 35-82.
    Google Scholar
  • 14 Wilkins AJ. Conjoint frequency, category size and categorization time. J Verb Learn Verb Behav 1971; 10: 382-5.
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 15 Rosch E, Mervis CB, Gay WD, Johnson DM, Boyes-Bream P. Basic objects in natural categories. Cogn Psychol 1976; 08: 382-439.
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 16 Rips LJ, Shoben EJ, Smith EE. Semantic distance and the verification of semantic relations. J Verb Learn Verb Behav 1973; 12: 1-20.
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 17 Tanaka JW, Taylor M. Object categories and expertise: Is the basic level in the eyes of the beholder?. Cogn Psychol 1991; 23: 457-82.
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 18 Mervis CB, Rosch E. Categorization of natural objects. Ann Rev Psychol 1981; 32: 89-115.
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 19 Sowa JF. Conceptual Structures: Information Processing in Mind and Machine. Reading: Addison-Wesley; 1984
    Google Scholar
  • 20 Zadeh LA. Fuzzy logic and approximate reasonning. Synthese 1975; 30: 407-25.
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 21 Tversky A. Features for similarity. Psychol Rev 1977; 84: 327-52.
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 22 Collins AM, Loftus EF. A spreading activation theory of semantic processing. Psychol Rev 1975; 82: 407-28.
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 23 McClelland JL, Rumelhart DE. An interactive model of context effects in letters perception. Part 1: An account of basic findings. Psychol Rev 1981; 88: 375-407.
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 24 Anderson JR. The Architecture of Cognition. Cambridge: Harvard University Press; 1983
    Google Scholar
  • 25 Kintsch W. The role of knowledge in discourse comprehension: A construction-integration model. Psychol Rev 1988; 95: 163-82.
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar