September 30, 2025
Why can artificial intelligence write poetry but struggle to fold laundry? For Assistant Professor of Psychology Samuel McDougle, that question points to one of science’s biggest puzzles: how the brain turns thought into action. His research explores the hidden computations behind movement—whether it’s tying a shoe, playing a sonata, or recovering motor skills after a stroke.
McDougle’s groundbreaking work has earned him the 2025 Arthur Greer Memorial Prize, adding to a growing list of honors for his innovative studies in cognition and motor control. Through his Action, Computation, and Thinking (ACT) Lab, he and his team investigate how the brain transforms “muscle memory” into intelligent, flexible behavior. Beyond the lab, McDougle is also a folk and bluegrass musician, blending his love of performance with his research on music, memory, and movement. “Understanding the brain will help us understand ourselves,” he says— a vision that guides both his science and his teaching of the next generation of researchers.
To read the full article, see “How the mind and body make music.”