Pugh's primary contributions have been in the areas of cognitive neuroscience and psycholinguistics.
[1][2] His current research employs combined behavioral and neurobiological measures and genetic information in the study of typical and atypical reading and language development, with a particular focus on learning and plasticity in disabled readers, including those with dyslexia.
[3] Pugh is a member of the National Academies/National Research Council Committee on Learning Sciences: Foundations and Applications to Adolescent and Adult Literacy [1][2].
His most recent book, which he edited with Peggy McCardle of the National Institutes of Health, How Children Learn to Read: Current Issues and New Directions in the Integration of Cognition, Neurobiology and Genetics of Reading and Dyslexia Research and Practice, provides a survey of contemporary research and thinking in these areas.
Pugh and several of his colleagues at Haskins Laboratories are featured in Dislecksia The Movie which is in post-production.