Association of the caudate nucleus with school performance and impulsivity
Poster Session A - Saturday, March 29, 2025, 3:00 – 5:00 pm EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom
Wi Hoon Jung1, Youngwoo Bryan Yoon2, Euitae Kim3; 1Gachon University, 2New York University School of Medicine, 3Seoul National University Bundang Hospital
Previous investigation has explored the neurobiological mechanisms underlying adolescent school performance (Grade Point Average, GPA), but these mechanisms remain poorly understood, especially for college students. Impulsivity has been highlighted as a key factor influencing academic success. However, its influence on the relationship between school performance and brain structure remains underexplored. Therefore, we investigated which brain areas are related to the GPA of college studies, whether the identified regions are also associated with their impulsivity, and whether impulsivity plays a mediating role in the relationship between the identified regions and GPA. To address these questions, a total of 153 college students’ GPA and impulsivity were measured. Their high-resolution T1-weighted anatomical images were also collected to measure their gray matter volume (GMV). We performed a whole-brain voxel-level regression analysis to explore the neuroanatomical correlates of school performance (GPA) and Spearman correlation analyses between the GMV of the above-identified region (caudate nucleus, CN) and impulsivity. We then performed mediation analyses to investigate whether impulsivity (M) could explain the effects of brain anatomy (X) on school performance (Y). The analyses revealed the GMV of right CN were negatively associated with an individual’s level of school performance and was positively correlated with impulsivity. We also found that the impulsivity showed a negative mediation effect on the relationship between the GMV of right CN and impulsivity. Our results indicate the caudate nucleus plays crucial roles in a student’s performance and associated impulsivity. Various interventions targeting impulsivity could improve educational outcomes by addressing the underlying neurobiological factors.
Topic Area: EXECUTIVE PROCESSES: Other
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March 29–April 1 | 2025
