Turtles are very good at adapting to routine, it takes minimal intelligence to learn repetitiveness. They, (captive turtles) start recognising where their food comes from within a week of hatching. They quickly learn to recognise individual family members and times of day and behave accordingly... mine know that I rarely ever capture them to remove them from their aquariums before midday so they will happily approach me inquisitively even nudge my hands in the aquarium.... however... afternoons are a lot different.. if I approach their aquarium they beat a retreat to where I cannot reach them as they know I'm there to capture them. All turtles learn routine, especially when food is involved. ELN are well renowned Australia wide for the pungent stench released by their scent glands when picked up (in the wild), captive bred ELN never release their defensive musk ever in their lives as they've never associated humans with danger.
When it comes to just being a turtle however, all human interactions aside, it is clear through general behavioural observation that all ELN's are from the shallow end of the gene pool when it comes to brains when compared to all other freshwater turtle species of Australia. If turtles had the equivalent of "dumb blonde jokes" they'd all involve ELN's. Their dopeyness aside, I'd never be without a bunch of them, they have always been popular in the hobby and would be a favourite for many older keepers as they'd no doubt have fond childhood memories of the 1st turtle they ever encountered and kept... and 99% of the time it was an ELN.