Dr. Michael D. Rugg

An anonymous donation created the Distinguished Chair to support the research and scholarly activities of the faculty member appointed. It was established in 2010, and Rugg is the inaugural holder.


“The scientific facilities of the Center for Vital Longevity and the support of UT Dallas provide the ideal environment for the further development and expansion of my research.”

Dr. Michael D. Rugg is a researcher in cognitive neuroscience and human memory. His research has contributed significantly to understanding the basic mechanisms of memory formation and retrieval, as well as how aging and neurological disease impact memory. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Association for Psychological Science.

His current research is aimed at understanding how age-related changes in the brain’s structure and function affect cognitive abilities, both in healthy people and those affected by neurological or psychiatric illness. A major focus of his research is on episodic memory – the type of memory that allows people to remember events that are tied to a particular place and time. His work employs the behavioral methods of experimental psychology, neuroimaging techniques such as functional MRI and electrophysiological recordings of human brain activity.

“I have been fascinated by the puzzle of memory since I was an undergraduate student. Our memories let us use the past to guide our future behavior and are also central to our sense of selfhood. My research aims to understand how the brain learns and remembers, why these processes are affected by age and disease, and what can be done to reduce or reverse these effects.”

Rugg was awarded the Henri Hécaen Award for contributions to neuropsychology in 1989 and in 1996 was elected a fellow of The Royal Society of Edinburgh, one of the world’s oldest scientific societies. He is former editor-in-chief of the international journal Neuropsychologia. In addition, he has written more than 280 peer-reviewed scientific papers and edited three books on various aspects of neurobiology and cognition.

Rugg received his bachelor’s and doctoral degrees in psychology from the University of Leicester in England and went on to professorships at the University of St Andrews in Scotland and University College London. He joined the University of California, Irvine in 2003, where he served as director of the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory. In 2011, he joined The University of Texas at Dallas as co-director of the Center for Vital Longevity.