Dr. Joseph E. LeDoux

Center for Neural Science, NYU, New York, NY

Curator and author

• Amygdala
• (2008) Joseph E. LeDoux

• Emotional memory
• (2007) Joseph E. LeDoux

Articles sponsored or reviewed

• Models of emotion
• (2007) Jean-Marc Fellous

FEATURED AUTHOR

SCHOLARPEDIA ARTICLES

Emotional memory

Scholarpedia, 2(7):1806. (2007).

Amygdala

Scholarpedia, 3(4):2698. (2008).

Joseph E. LeDoux

Joseph E. LeDoux (b. December 7, 1949 in Eunice, Louisiana) received his Ph.D. in 1977 from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, NY. He started his career as a postdoctoral fellow at Cornell University Medical College (New York, NY), where he was made an Assistant Professor in 1980 and an Associate Professor in 1986. Prof. LeDoux then moved to New York University's Center for Neural Science where he was promoted to Full Professor in 1991. Since 1996 he has been the Henry and Lucy Moses Professor of Science, and since 2005 he has held the title of "University Professor".

Over the course of his career Prof. LeDoux has received many awards, including the Fyssen Foundation International Prize, the Hoch Award, the Jean-Louis Signoret Prize, consecutive MERIT Awards and Research Scientist Awards from the the American National Institute of Mental Health. Prof. LeDoux sits on the editorial board of several journals and has given the Society for Neuroscience Presidential Lecture. He was elected Fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences in 2005 and Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2006.

Prof. LeDoux's work has focused on the study of the neural basis of emotions, especially fear and anxiety. Central to emotional processing is the amygdala, a brain area that LeDoux and his collaborators study extensively. Using an array of methods including neuroanatomy, electrophysiology, brain imaging, and behavioral studies, he has contributed important advances to the understanding of emotional learning and memory. For more information, visit http://www.cns.nyu.edu/ledoux/. He is also a member of a rock band, The Amygdaloids, which plays original songs about mind and brain and mental disorders, with many of the songs inspired by his research. Information about the band is available at [1] and at [2].

(originally featured 23 April 2008)

Previously featured authors

Author profile by Abdellatif Nemri

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Figure 1: The Amygdaloids live at the Kennedy Center. Joseph LeDoux, foreground; Nina Curley, background. Photo by Quentin Huys

Figure 2: The Amygdaloids live at the Kennedy Center. Joseph LeDoux, guitar; Tyler Volk Guitar, Daniela Schiller, Drums, Nina Curley, Bass. Photo by Quentin Huys

Figure 3: Joseph LeDoux in his office. Photo by James Prinz