The relationship between visual memory and spatial intelligence with students’ academic achievement in anatomy

INTRODUCTION: Academic achievement is influenced by various factors. Spatial intelligence and visual memory are among the factors that seem to be related to learning anatomy. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between visual memory and spatial intelligence with students’ academic achievement in anatomy. METHODS: The present study is a descriptive cross-sectional study. All medical and dental students who had chosen anatomy courses (Semester 3 medicine and 2 dentistry) were the target population (n=240). The study tools were Jean-Louis Sellier 's visual memory test to determine visual memory and ten questions from Gardner Spatial Intelligence Questionnaire were employed to assess spatial intelligence. The tests were performed at the beginning of the semester and its relationship with the academic achievement scores of the anatomy course was examined. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, independent t-test, Pearson correlation and multiple linear regression. RESULTS: Data of 148 medical students and 85 dental students were analyzed. The mean score of visual memory in medical students (17.1±5.3) was significantly higher than dental students (14.3±4.6) (P-value <0.001). But the mean score of spatial intelligence (31.5±5.9) was not significantly different between medical and dental students (31.9±4.9) (P-value=0.56). Pearson correlation coefficient showed that in medical students there was a direct relationship between visual memory score and spatial intelligence score with scores of anatomy courses (P-value<0.05). Moreover, in dental students, there was a direct relationship between the score of anatomical sciences with the score of visual memory (P-value=0.01) and the score of spatial intelligence (P-value=0.003). CONCLUSION: The results of this study showed that there is a significant relationship between spatial intelligence and visual memory with learning anatomy and planning to enhance these characteristics can be fruitful in students. It is suggested that Visual memory and spatial intelligence should be considered for student admission, especially in the fields of medicine and dentistry.