Use of Tangential Visual Symbols to Increase the Long‐Term Learning Process: Applications of Linkage in Teaching Pharmacological Principles of Addiction

Abstract

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.

Measuring icon complexity: An automated analysis

“…In tasks involving recall, participants have been able to correctly identify 85%-95% of a set of previously presented graphical symbols, whereas recall for words was significantly lower, particularly in larger learning sets (Standing, 1973). A similar advantage was reported by Muter and Mayson (1986), who found that error rates were halved when users were presented with symbols rather than with text; more recently, Giannini, Giannini, and Condon (2000) found that the presentation of symbolic slides during lectures facilitated improvements in the test scores of students.…”