While making a pathological diagnosis, certain phrases unexpectedly surface in my mind—words once spoken by mentors who taught me how to see, think, and decide. It feels a bit like a flashback scene in a TV drama, appearing without warning, yet at exactly the right moment.
When I am working on a pathological diagnosis, various words from teachers I would call mentors sometimes pass through my mind.
The feeling is similar to those sudden flashback scenes in television dramas or manga, where memories appear unannounced in the protagonist’s thoughts.
Some of these phrases are not original to a particular teacher but are well known among pathologists. A representative example is: “Always look at a specimen believing that there must be a finding.”
But there are many other words that also come to mind.
Over the years, I have been taught pathology and research by many pathologists. With each of these mentors came countless exchanges of words, many of which have become part of my blood and bones as a pathologist.
In fact, I wrote down only the title of this article after noticing this phenomenon during a diagnosis. However, I have since forgotten which case it was, which mentor it involved, and exactly which words came to mind.
Even as I write this now, I cannot quite remember.
It is an interesting thing.
Perhaps, during diagnosis, the brain is operating close to its limits—fully engaged, gathering every possible piece of information, including the voices of mentors. That may be why certain words emerge seemingly from nowhere.
The fact that I cannot recall them now may mean that I am relaxed, or that a different part of my brain—separate from the one used for pathological diagnosis—is currently at work. In that state, my mentors’ words may simply have no role to play.
We often describe AI thinking in terms of neural networks. Reading this back, I find myself oddly convinced that my own brain is doing much the same.
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