Research Opportunity Number: PSY-01

Project Title: Exploring Motor Skill Learning from Another Angle: How Different Cognitive Strategies are Leveraged for Improving Motor Performance

Project Summary: Motor skill learning relies on high-level cognition. It isn’t just “muscle memory”. In this research project, students will investigate the contribution of cognitive strategies to both novel skill learning and maintenance of existing skills. Through various experimental techniques, students will study how strategies can enhance motor performance and how implicit recalibration processes adjust the internal model of the body to improve movements. They also examine how the brain represents and organizes these skills in a psychological space rather than purely motoric spaces. 

By examining the intersection of these processes, students will contribute to the development of a more comprehensive model of motor skill learning that highlights the significance of higher-level cognitive involvement. This research will not only deepen our understanding of how motor skills are learned, maintained, and represented, but may inform better motor training strategies for both healthy individuals and those with neurological impairments.

Student Roles and Responsibilities: Assist with experiment development and testing, data collection, and data analyses involving human behavioral experiments, computer and video game programming, data and statistical analysis, and computational modeling. 

Additional Considerations: Equipment used may include motion-tracking equipment, virtual and augmented reality equipment and robotic manipulandum.

Department/Institute: Psychology / Princeton Neuroscience Institute

Participation Dates: June 16 – August 15, 2025

Stipend Offered: $0

Number of Internships Available: 0-3

Application Deadline: March 15, 2025, midnight Eastern Daylight Time