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Use of Tangential Visual Symbols to Increase the Long‐Term Learning Process: Applications of Linkage in Teaching Pharmacological Principles of Addiction
Author(s) -
Giannini A. James,
Giannini Juliette N.,
Condon Maggie
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
the journal of clinical pharmacology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.92
H-Index - 116
eISSN - 1552-4604
pISSN - 0091-2700
DOI - 10.1177/00912700022009459
Subject(s) - term (time) , addiction , linkage (software) , process (computing) , psychology , computer science , artificial intelligence , medicine , neuroscience , biology , genetics , programming language , physics , gene , quantum mechanics
Medieval and Renaissance teaching techniques using linkage between course content and tangentially related visual symbols were applied to the teaching of the pharmacological principles of addiction. Forty medical students randomly divided into two blinded groups viewed a lecture. One lecture was supplemented by symbolic slides, and the second was not. Students who viewed symbolic slides had significantly higher scores in a written 15‐question multiple‐choice test 30 days after the lecture. These results were consistent with learning and semiotic models. These models hypothesize a linkage between conceptual content and perception of visual symbols that thereby increases conceptual retention. Recent neurochemical research supports the existence of a linkage between two chemically distinct memory systems. Simultaneous stimulation of both chemical systems by teaching formats similar to those employed in the study can augment neurochemical signaling in the neocortex.