THE CONCEPT OF PERSERVATION WAS EXTENDED TO A MORE NEURAL LEVEL TO INCLUDE PERSISTENCE OF TRACE ACTIVITY, AND A STUDY WAS MADE TO SEARCH FOR THE DIMENSIONS OF TRACE PERSISTENCE. THE STUDY WAS CONDUCTED TO IDENTIFY BEHAVIORAL DIFFERENCES OF INDIVIDUAL LEARNING PROCESSES AMONG STUDENTS. THE STUDY DID NOT TAKE THE TRADITIONAL PERSONALITY-MOTIVATION APPROACH TO INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES, BUT RATHER, WAS BASED ON A NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL THEORY WHICH POSTULATES THAT NONSPECIFIC NEURAL ACTIVITY AND PARAMETERS OF SYNAPTIC TRANSMISSION PLAY VITAL ROLES IN MODULATING INDIVIDUAL TRACE ACTIVITY. DATA WERE OBTAINED ON SAMPLES OF UNDERGRADUATE COLLEGE STUDENTS, USING A VARIETY OF MEASURES OF MEMORY, PERCEPTION, COGNITION, ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE, AND SELF-ANALYSIS. A TOTAL OF 93 WOMEN PARTICIPATED INDIVIDUALLY IN THE INITIAL PHASE OF THE STUDY, AND 44 OF THESE RETURNED A YEAR AND A HALF LATER SO THAT CERTAIN RELIABILITY MEASURES COULD BE OBTAINED. IN ADDITION, 28 MEN SERVED AS SUBJECTS FOR GROUP-ADMINISTERED TESTS. NONMETRIC FACTOR ANALYSES WERE PERFORMED ON ALL GATHERED DATA. THE RESULTS SHOWED THERE ARE MEANINGFUL, ORDERLY DIFFERENCES IN THE WAYS STUDENTS PERCEIVE AND THINK. THE CONCLUSION WAS DRAWN THAT THE EDUCATION PROCESS MIGHT START WITH A KNOWLEDGE OF AND RESPECT FOR THE PATTERN OF DIMENSIONS CHARACTERISTIC OF EACH INDIVIDUAL. (AL)