Introduction Lectures remain a central component of undergraduate medical education worldwide. However, concerns have emerged that traditional lecture durations may not align with contemporary understanding of attention, cognitive load and student engagement. 1–4 Despite ongoing debate, there is no clear consensus on the optimal length of a medical lecture. This systematic review aimed to synthesise existing literature examining lecture duration and its relationship with medical student concentration, engagement and learning outcomes. 5 Methods This systematic review was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. Comprehensive searches were performed across Medline, Embase and ERIC without language or date restrictions. After duplicate removal, 6508 titles and abstracts were screened. Full texts were assessed against predefined inclusion criteria and five studies met eligibility requirements. 7–11 Forward and backward citation tracking was also undertaken to ensure comprehensive coverage. Data were charted and thematically synthesised. Results Four interrelated themes emerged from the included studies: note-taking practices, lecture topic complexity, lecture duration and presentation methods. 7–11 Several studies reported that student concentration appeared to decline after the first 10 to 15 minutes of a lecture. 9 However, evidence also suggested that engagement was influenced by interactivity, cognitive demand and instructional design rather than duration alone. 6,7 Shorter lectures, approximately 30 minutes in length, were associated in some studies with improved retention and reduced cognitive overload, although findings were not universally consistent. 8,10 Conclusion Current evidence suggests that lecture duration interacts with multiple contextual and pedagogical factors. While shorter lectures may enhance engagement in some settings, duration alone does not determine learning effectiveness. 5–7 Medical educators should consider lecture design, cognitive complexity and opportunities for interaction alongside duration when developing curricula. 1,3 Further research is required to clarify how lecture structure and length can be optimised to support sustainable attention and meaningful learning in medical education. 5
Sujeesh et al. (Tue,) studied this question.
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