Effects of experience and training on diagnostic accuracy

In this reexamination of a previously published report (R. Brammer, 1997), psychologists and psychology students (N = 138) were provided an artificial intelligence program that simulated a clinical interview. The client provided paragraph-length answers to the questions participants chose to ask. At the end of their interview, the participants provided a brief diagnosis for the client. A path analysis revealed that clinical experience is a strong predictor of the ability to form an accurate diagnosis and that an individual's level of training, mediated by the number of diagnostic questions asked, also helps to derive accurate diagnoses.