Tag: mnemonics

Rapid Learning

How To Study Neuroanatomy

Stephen Goldberg

The director of medical student cardiology training at the University of Miami once told me that cardiology was really not that difficult to learn, since it was based on a few general principles, but that neuroanatomy was difficult, since there were so many isolated facts that are difficult to digest.

I found this conversation interesting, since I had experienced just the opposite.  Cardiology to me was always nebulous; there were just too many facts to learn, especially drugs and their effects, and I always had difficulty with cardiology.  Neuroanatomy, though, seemed far simpler, since, to me, a few general principles conveyed the essence of the subject.  It occurred to me that the learning of a subject has a lot to do with the grasping of general principles.

For instance, there are some 100 billion neurons in the brain and in the range of a quadrillion synaptic connections (connection points between nerve cells).  This would surely be an overwhelming amount to learn.  However, it is interesting from a clinical standpoint that of all these synapses, there is only one that is of clinical significance to know about in evaluating a patient.  That is the synapse that separates an upper motor neuron from a lower motor neuron.  Where the synapse is located makes a big difference in the kind of paralysis that a patient experiences, whether of the upper motor neuron kind or the lower motor neuron kind (I won’t go into the details here).  Other than that synapse, it is the pathway along which information flows, rather than the number of synapses in that path that is important.  Whether or not the pathway has one synapse or many within it is unimportant in making a diagnosis as to where the problem lies. This simplifies the study of the subject.

As an example, the right side of the brain connects with the left environment of the body.  Thus, an injury to the right brain will result in sensory loss or weakness on the left side of the body.  It is not necessary to know where all the synapses lie along these pathways to know this.  Who would concern the physician more, a patient who complains of a right-sided headache and weakness and lack of sensation on the right side of the body, or a patient who complains of a right-sided headache and weakness and lack of sensation on the left side of the body?  It is the latter, because a problem with the right brain should not affect the right side of the body.  The location of the synapses is not so important in making this determination.

In learning neuroanatomy, then, it is more important, at least at first, to learn the general principles of pathway layout, rather than the location of synapses.  If you want to learn all about synapses too, it would be better to first understand the general principles of direction of flow of the pathways, then move on to greater detail.  This is the approach I have taken in Clinical Neuroanatomy Made Ridiculously Simple.

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How To Study Anatomy

Stephen Goldberg

In learning Anatomy, I think it is better to first learn through conceptual diagrams, rather than through photos of actual anatomy.  Photos of dissections, particularly those of formaldehyde-fixed specimens, contain fascia (connective tissue) and other features that obscure the conceptual picture of what connects with what.  In our medical school anatomy program, we had available a series of stereoscopic slides of actual dissections.  Few students used them.  During my ophthalmology residency, I also found relatively useless a book of photos of orbital dissections.  It is better to learn the anatomy conceptually, as through line drawings, and then fine tune this knowledge when learning surgery using unfixed tissue, having first learned the anatomy conceptually.

Anatomy is a very visual subject.  Here, a good way to learn the anatomy is to distort it into pictures that are common knowledge.  A typical vertebra, for instance, looks like a snowman, whose arms, legs, shoulders, and head resemble the actual vertebral anatomy (see below).  While learning other people’s mnemonics can be very helpful, they are often longer-lasting if they are your own.

From Clinical Anatomy Made Ridiculously Simple, by S. Goldberg, MedMaster

Ditties (e.g. “C3,4,5 keep the diaphragm alive”), acronymns (e.g. “SCALP” for layers of the scalp: Skin, Connective tissue, Aponeurotic layer, Loose connective tissue, Pericranium), and ridiculous associations (e.g. for cranial nerves 7 and 3, which open or close the eyes — see below) are also useful for learning anatomy.  A collection of such mnemonics may be found at medicalmnemonics.com.

CN7: A hook - closes eyes. CN3: 3 pillars - opens eyes. From Clinical Neuroanatomy Made Ridiculously Simple, by S. Goldberg, MedMaster.

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Memory Techniques for Med School #10 Acronyms

Stephen Goldberg

Placebos feel out of place in party with other kinds of pills

ACRONYMS
With acronyms, the first letters of the items in a list are put together to form a word.  For instance, the acronym SCALP is used to remember the layers of the scalp:

S = Skin
C = Connective tissue
A = Aponeurotic layer
L = Loose connective tissue
P = Pericranium

Related to the word-type acronym is one in which you remember a sentence in which the first letter of each word corresponds to an item on the list.  For instance, to remember the carpal bones:

“Some Lovers Try Positions That They Cannot Handle”

S = Scaphoid
L = Lunate
T = Triquetrum
P = Pisiform
T = Trapezium
T = Trapezoid
C = Capitate
H = Hamate

These are effective mnemonics, since the letters all are nouns and refer to specific anatomical structures in the region.  There is little else that the letters could refer to.

It is difficult to find good acronymns, however.  In many, the letters are not necessarily nouns, and they could refer to so many things that they are hardly worth the effort to memorize, except perhaps for an exam the next day.  They are quickly forgotten.

You can find many lists of acronyms by googling “medical mnemonics.”

Which memory and learning techniques do you find most valuable in your medical studies?
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Rapid Learning

Memory Techniques for Med School #9 Chunking

Stephen Goldberg
Difficult directions — one of the major causes of poor patient compliance

CHUNKING
In chunking, you try to break up a large list of items into smaller chunks, each of which can be easier to memorize than the whole.  A classic example is the phone number, which, rather than a list of 10 successive digits, is broken up into a 3-digit area code, then a 3-digit number followed by a 4-digit number.

In medicine this can be done with lists of words or with pictures. For words, say you want to memorize a large list of antibiotics.  They are easier to learn by first grouping them into categories (antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antiparasitic).  Antibacterials can be  further reduced to the subchunks of penicillin family, anti-ribosomal, anti-tb and leprosy, and miscellaneous, etc.  If you can create subgroups of items in a large list (also aided by placing them in charts for cross-reference comparison), it becomes easier to keep them in mind.

Chunking can also be done with complex pictures.  For instance, the metabolic pathways in biochemistry form a large and complex map of associations.  Breaking them down into visual chunks eases the learning process:

Expanding on the chunks
Further chunk expansion (from Clinical Biochemistry Made Ridiculously Simple, MedMaster)

Which memory and learning techniques do you find most valuable in your medical studies?

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What do you think of eBooks versus print books?

Rapid Learning

Memory Techniques for Med School #8 Memory Palace

Stephen Goldberg
Surgical team and patient with "Hi, I'm...." social name stickers
Adding the human touch to the operating room

THE MEMORY PALACE
The Memory Palace (also called the method of loci, or mental walk)  is a terrific memory method that was used as far back as ancient Rome, but has been largely underused since the invention of  printed books.  Neuropsychologist A.R. Luria, in his book “The Mind of  a Mnemonist,” describes an amazing patient he followed for many years, who never forgot anything.  The patient used the Memory Palace method, which is also praised highly by Joshua Foer, who won the U.S. memory championship and describes the method in his best-selling book “Moonwalking with Einstein.”

In the Memory Palace you simply visualize a walk through a place that you know well.  For instance, it may be your home, in which you first encounter a large tree outside, then the front door, then the foyer, then the den on the right, then the kitchen, the bathroom, the bedroom, etc., in succession.  You know this sequential list well, simply by the familiarity that you have with your home.

You use this walking list of places to associate each stop along the walk with an item on the list you wish to memorize.

In the case of the 7 cancer signs:

1.  A change in bowel or bladder habits
2.  A sore that does not heal
3.  Unusual bleeding or discharge from any place
4.  A lump in the breast or other parts of the body
5.  Chronic indigestion or difficulty in swallowing
6.  Obvious changes in a wart or mole
7.  Persistent coughing or hoarseness

You might associate a cancerous tree, shaped like a “7,” that had a bowel and bladder exploding from its trunk.  Continuing the walk:

The fecal matter would land on the door, causing a large sore on the door.

The sore would erode through the door, causing a massive pool of blood and discharge in the foyer.

The den on the right would be filled to the ceiling with lumps.

etc.

The advantage of the Memory Palace over the Link and Peg methods is that you can have numerous memory palaces.  There then is no problem of confusing one item in a list with the same item in another list (such as a list of drug effects or symptoms of a disease).  Just use a different memory palace. Trained mnemonists use hundreds of Memory Palaces.  Moreover, you don’t have to memorize the number/letter combinations of the Peg method.  You already have ready made pegs through the places you have visited and know well.

Which memory and learning techniques do you find most valuable in your medical studies?
What do you think of eBooks versus print books?