Event-Related Brain Potentials and Psychology Course Mean Examination Grades

• Published in: Perceptual and Motor Skills
• Main Authors: Bush, Anita M., Geist, Charles R., Emery, Scott
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publications 1993
• Subjects: Sensory Systems; Experimental and Cognitive Psychology; Subarctic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.2466/pms.1993.76.3c.1387; http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.2466/pms.1993.76.3c.1387

Since 1965 research into the event-related brain potentials of the human electroencephalogram suggests that these EEG components are closely related to human information-processing activities. In this study were tested 21 normal adult university students (12 women, 9 men, ages 19 to 51 years) from the Alaskan subarctic, using both the auditory and visual event-related potential oddball paradigms. The event-related brain potential recordings were analyzed as explanatory variables of academic performance, as measured by the mean of a series of multiple-choice examinations covering lecture and text material. No high association between these brain electrophysiological measures and students' academic performance was observed. At best, one component explained 27.6% of the variation in mean examination grades.