A multimodal curriculum with integrated gamification helps reduce neurophobia in medical students

"Neurophobia," a fear of neural sciences, presents a significant impediment in medical education, contributing to student anxiety and influencing career selection away from neurological specialties. The high prevalence of neurophobia underscores the significance of this issue. Despite the widespread recognition of neurophobia, a clear mechanism for addressing this across healthcare curricula remains elusive. To help address this gap, this article describes the design and evaluation of an innovative, multimodal curriculum designed to target this deep-seated fear of neuroanatomy. We hypothesized that this multimodal, gamified approach would increase the students' self-perceived confidence in neuroanatomy. The curriculum was delivered to medical students at two different institutions, integrating traditional neuroanatomy teaching methods such as donor dissection with strategies that gamify learning. Gamification relied on low-fidelity competitions, such as Memory Games, Neuro-Charades, A Minute to Win It, "Neuro-Jeopardy" revision sessions, clinically oriented simulated anatomy ward rounds, and an immersive escape room, many of which were developed with corresponding scalable digital versions for broad dissemination. A mixed-methods evaluation using pre- and post-course surveys and content analysis of qualitative feedback from medical students was conducted to assess their perceived confidence in neuroanatomy. A significant increase in mean self-perceived learner confidence was observed post-intervention (V = 489, p < 0.001). Quantitative and qualitative data indicated high student satisfaction and perceived educational efficacy for all curriculum components. Students affirmed the value of dissection for 3D conceptualization while highlighting how gamified activities fostered engagement and collaborative learning. This work suggests that a synergistic combination of traditional and innovative pedagogical techniques can help improve learner confidence in neuroanatomy. Further iterations of these interventions focused on a framework for scalability without compromising impact.