Effect of story-based audiovisual mnemonics in comparison with text-reading method on memory consolidation among medical students: A randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Traditional teaching methods via faculty lectures and text-based materials lack interactivity. Hence, this research aimed to compare the effectiveness of story-based audiovisual mnemonics and the conventional text-reading method on medical students' memory consolidation.

METHODS: A single-center, systematically randomly sampled, single-blinded, controlled study was conducted among 80 first-year medical students. The students were randomly assigned to the text-reading (control) or story-based audiovisual mnemonics (intervention) group. After completing the learning session, the participants immediately took a test that consisted of ten multiple-choice questions, each of which had one correct single-response answer, and an oral recall test that consisted of ten keywords based on the given topics. The test was repeated at 1 week, 2 weeks, and 4 weeks post intervention. Descriptive and inferential statistics were utilized to assess the participants' responses. The mean score difference between the audiovisual mnemonics and control groups was determined by using a two-tailed unpaired t-test.

RESULTS: The participants in the intervention group had statistically significant higher marks in the multiple-choice test as compared to the participants in the control group. The intervention group also spent a statistically significant shorter time to recall keywords in the oral recall test in comparison to the control group.

CONCLUSION: The story-based audiovisual mnemonics method is more effective than the conventional text-reading method in promoting memory retention among medical students.