MNEMONIC TECHNIQUES AS AN EFFECTIVE LEARNING STRATEGY FOR NEUROANATOMY AMONG UNDERGRADUATE MEDICAL STUDENTS

Abstract

Neuroanatomy is one of the fundamental sciences in medicine, which often leads to learning difficulties among medical students. These difficulties may even result in a phenomenon known as neurophobia, referring to the fear of understanding the field of neurology. One effective strategy to address learning difficulties in neuroanatomy is the use of mnemonic techniques, which function to enhance long-term memory retention through associative patterns. This research used a quasi-experimental design with a nonequivalent control group. The sample comprised of 53 undergraduate medical students from batch 2023 at Universitas Udayana, divided into a control group (conventional method) and an experimental group (mnemonic technique). The mean N-Gain score of the experimental group (59.02%) was higher than that of the control group (40.69%), with t-test results showing a significant difference (p = 0.004). In addition, the questionnaire results revealed positive student responses toward the use of mnemonic techniques (Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.893). Mnemonic techniques have been shown to effectively enhance neuroanatomy learning results as well as enhancing the interest and motivation of medical students.