Do personality characteristics impact medical student learner outcomes in anatomy and neuroscience courses?: a retrospective observational study

Numerous studies have correlated personality characteristics with medical student performance and specialty preference, with inconsistent results. This study investigates if performance on anatomy and neuroscience course assessments varied according to personality attributes. A subset of the data was used to examine if personality characteristics were associated with success in virtual versus in-person learning environments. The Real Colors ® personality instrument was administered to Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine (MCASOM), Arizona Campus, students during the first two months of school by a certified facilitator. The instrument uses four colors to help understand human behavior, uncover motivators specific to each group of personality characteristics (color), and improve communication with others: Blue, Green, Gold, and Orange. Academic performance was measured through scores on summative assessments: National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) anatomy and neuroscience examinations, institutionally developed neuroscience written exam, neuroscience quizzes, anatomy laboratory practical examination, and a radiologic anatomy exam. A Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare performance on each assessment between color groups. Post-hoc analysis was done through the Dunn-Bonferroni correction. Real Colors ® personality instrument data was available for n = 193 students for the neuroscience course and n = 196 for the anatomy course over four years. Blue was the most common color among the MCASOM medical student population (43.0% neuroscience, 45.4% anatomy), followed by Green (29.0% neuroscience, 28.6% anatomy), Gold (16.0% neuroscience, 14.8% anatomy), and Orange (11.9% neuroscience, 11.2% anatomy). Kruskal-Wallis test showed a significant difference between groups for the neuroscience NBME exam, anatomy NBME exam, and anatomy lab practical. Post-hoc analyses showed the significant differences were consistently between Green and Orange groups. Sub-group analysis did not reveal differences in course performance for virtual versus in-person environments between colors. The discrepancies detected in this analysis may be due to learning and learning environment preferences potentially related to personality characteristics. Other measures of performance (e.g., standardized patient encounters) may enhance the understanding of personality characteristics as they apply to medical education. Personality instruments may be best utilized to foster effective communication and teamwork skills and to help educators develop instructional methods and materials that appeal to learners with diverse preferences.