The use of mnemonics for better academic performance of medical university students in the study of anatomical terms

Abstract

Annotation. Mnemonics are a combination of special methods and techniques that make it easier to memorize the necessary information and increase the amount of memory by forming associations. The aim of the work is to develop techniques that will help medical students effectively learn anatomical terms by facilitating the memorization of large amounts of information. In this article, we used the following mnemonic techniques: first letter mnemonics or acronyms and the “Comparison” method – to identify common features in the studied and well-known material, namely the similarity in form. This article includes mnemonics that will help to easily learn the following terms namely the anatomy of the skeleton bones for memorizing the bones of the medial wall of the orbit, the bones in the nasal septum, the wrist bones, the ankle tarsal bones, recognition of thoracic vertebrae from the lumbar, cranial bones, upper limb bones, bones of the lower limb, the vertebral regions, the hand, the arm bones and the bone projections. Also included are mnemonics on the anatomy of the cranial nerves that pass through the superior orbital fissure and branches of the facial nerve, mnemonics on the anatomy of the peripheral nervous system, namely somatic nerve plexuses, which include the brachial plexus branches. Also included are mnemonics on the anatomy of the upper limbs muscles, namely the muscles that form the rotator cuff in the shoulder, muscles involved in elbow flexion and the anterior flexor muscles of the forearm and mnemonics on the anatomy of the trunk muscles, namely the paired erector spinae muscles and abdominal muscles. Finally, this article includes a mnemonic on the anatomy of the male reproductive system, namely the layers of the scrotum. In the future, new mnemonics will be developed that relate to splanchnology, anatomy of the central nervous system, anatomy of the sensory organs and anatomy of the cardiovascular system, which were not listed above.