ABSTRACT
A great deal of work in the study of expertise has been conducted in the context of problem solving rather than that of comprehension. Despite this, research in knowledge-based domains indicates that some of the more salient features of expertise involve comprehension. The reason for this is that efficient knowledge structures, rather than processes, seem to define expert performance and that many of the failures found in both experts and less-than-experts are accountable in terms of failures of understanding. Medical expertise is one of those areas of research where the importance of comprehension processes has been demonstrated (V. L. Patel & Groen, 1986). Medical problem solving depends on understanding because problem interpretation and analysis in medicine requires the construction of appropriate clusters of long-term memory knowledge that match the current patient presentation.
