Kurt A. Thoroughman, PhD

Kurt A. Thoroughman, PhD

Associate Professor, School of Engineering & Applied Science

Professor Kurt Thoroughman’s research interests are in human learning and motor control.​ He is the director of the Laboratory of Neural Computation and Motor Behavior.

Characterizing motor learning processes in healthy human adults will identify the specific signals used to plan movements and build motor predictions, which will in turn predict the neuronal activities required for motor learning. Comparing these predictions to physiological recordings from non-human primates will indicate the brain area that likely underlie these computations. Understanding motor behavior and its neural basis will make possible the measurement of these processes in disease, which will further the development of insightful clinical test in movement neurology, facilitate the early detection of symptoms, and make possible treatments of motor diseases at the earliest and least problematic stages.