Biasing influence of 'mental shortcuts' on diagnostic decision-making: radiologists can overlook breast cancer in mamograms when prior diagnostic information is available.
Branch F, Santana I, Hegdé J. Biasing influence of 'mental shortcuts' on diagnostic decision-making: radiologists can overlook breast cancer in mamograms when prior diagnostic information is available. Diagnostics (Basel). 2022;12(1):105. doi:10.3390/diagnostics12010105.
Anchoring bias is relying on initial diagnostic impression despite subsequent information to the contrary. In this study, radiologists were asked to read a mammogram and were told a random number which researchers claimed was the probability the mammogram was positive for breast cancer. Radiologists' estimation of breast cancer reflected the random number they were given prior to viewing the image; however, when they were not given a prior estimation, radiologists were highly accurate in diagnosing breast cancer.