Differential associations of neurobehavioral traits and cognitive ability to academic achievement in higher education.

Background: People vary between each other on several neurobehavioral traits, which may have implications for understanding academic achievement.

Methods: University-level Psychology or Engineering students were assessed for neurobehavioral traits, intelligence, and current psychological distress. Scores were compared with their grade point average (GPA) data.

Modulation of striatum based non-declarative and medial temporal lobe based declarative memory predicts academic achievement at university level.

Background: There is a dearth of research on the roles of non-declarative (implicit) learning linked to the striatum and declarative (explicit) learning associated with the medial temporal lobes as predictors of academic attainment.

Methods: Participants were 120 undergraduate students, studying Psychology or Engineering, who completed several long-term memory tests.

Results: There was a significant interaction between the groups (Psychology or Engineering) and task type (declarative or non-declarative): Engineers performed better at declarative and psychologists at non-declarative learning.