The applicability of verbal mnemonics for different populations: A review

Abstract

The main aims of this review were to assess(1) the likelihood of learners making spontaneous use of verbal mnemonics, and (2) the extent to which learners will benefit from using verbal mnemonics. Over 60 investigations of verbal mnemonics were reviewed, most of which concentrated upon sentence mnemonics or first-letter mnemonics; although many of the studies used students as subjects, the review also considers the value of verbal mnemonics for schoolchildren, mentally handicapped people, brain-injured patients, and the elderly. On the whole, verbal mnemonics are relatively popular internal memory aids and, when compared to standard control conditions such as rehearsal, appear to be effective learning strategies for most of the populations studied, although mentally handicapped people and schoolchildren may find it difficult to produce effective mnemonics themselves; additionally, students and schoolchildren can benefit from the use of mnemonic sentences as part of more complex techniques. Comparisons between verbal mnemonics and other memory-aiding strategies have, however, given more equivocal results. A number of areas for future research are identified. In particular it is hoped to see a development of recent trends to use non-student subjects, and to investigate the applicability of verbal mnemonics outside the laboratory.

Assessing Effectiveness of Mnemonics for Tertiary Students in a Hybrid Introductory Statistics Course

“…Also, notice that both of these mnemonics are of the same type; both leverage the "first letter of a word" to recall a fact. This finding is consistent with the finding that first-letter based mnemonics have frequent spontaneous use relative to other types of mnemonics and that they are effective for learning inter-related pieces of information (Boltwood and Blick 1970;Cook 1989).…”

“…The efficacy of first-letter based mnemonics depends on the nature of the materials to be learned (Cook 1989). When sets of unrelated words were learned, first-letter mnemonics did not enhance performance relative to study with no particular instruction; however, when learning sets of related words, firstletter mnemonics did enhance performance.…”

“…Among the most studied techniques are those involving imagery or verbal mnemonics (Cook 1989), such as using the first letters of a set of words to form an acronym or phrase or using the words to make up a story. The materials typically used in controlled laboratory experiments are lists of words, but more applied studies have been conducted with K-12 students using classroom materials.…”

“…Sentence mnemonics helped later recall and recognition of concrete nouns (Bower and Winzenz 1970). Both ready-made and self-produced sentence mnemonics were helpful in several studies, but the evidence is mixed with regard to which is more effective (Cook 1989). Sentence mnemonics were particularly robust across delays of several days or weeks (Boltwood and Blick 1970).…”

Validating the 5Fs mnemonic for cholelithiasis: time to include family history

“…Mnemonics are rightly considered to improve data acquisition and recall,5 to facilitate understanding,6 to improve motivation and enjoyment,7 while supplying integration, meaning and cues where none existed 3. The effectiveness of the Advanced Cardiac Life Support mnemonics ‘4Hs’ and 4Ts’ and ‘EMD aide’ have been compared in a randomised trial, which showed an advantage for the latter 2.…”