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Joseph E. LeDoux (born December 7, 1949) is an American neuroscientist whose research is primarily focused on survival circuits, including their impacts on
emotion Emotions are mental states brought on by neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or displeasure. There is currently no scientific consensus on a definitio ...
s such as
fear Fear is an intensely unpleasant emotion in response to perceiving or recognizing a danger or threat. Fear causes physiological changes that may produce behavioral reactions such as mounting an aggressive response or fleeing the threat. Fear ...
and
anxiety Anxiety is an emotion which is characterized by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil and includes feelings of dread over anticipated events. Anxiety is different than fear in that the former is defined as the anticipation of a future threat wh ...
. LeDoux is the Henry and Lucy Moses Professor of Science at
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...
, and director of the Emotional Brain Institute, a collaboration between NYU and New York State with research sites at NYU and the Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research in Orangeburg, New York. He is also the lead singer and songwriter in the band
The Amygdaloids The Amygdaloids, an American rock band from New York City, contains three New York University scientists: Joseph LeDoux, vocals and guitar, Tyler Volk, lead guitar and vocals, Colin Dempsey, bass, and Daniela Schiller, drums. LeDoux is a prof ...
.


Research and theories


Work on threat response, anxiety, and emotions

As explained in his 1996 book, ''The Emotional Brain'', LeDoux developed an interest in the topic of emotion through his doctoral work with Michael Gazzaniga on split-brain patients in the mid-1970s. Because techniques for studying the human brain were limited at the time, he turned to studies of rodents where the brain could be studied in detail. He chose to focus on a simple behavioral model, Pavlovian fear conditioning. This procedure allowed him to follow the flow of information about a stimulus through the brain as it comes to control behavioral responses by way of sensory pathways to the amygdala, and gave rise to the notion of two sensory roads to the amygdala, with the "low road" being a quick and dirty subcortical pathway for rapid activity behavioral responses to threats and the "high road" providing slower but highly processed cortical information. His work has shed light on how the brain detects and responds to threats, and how memories about such experiences are formed and stored through cellular, synaptic and molecular changes in the amygdala. A long-standing collaboration with NYU colleague Elizabeth Phelps has shown the validity of the rodent work for understanding threat processing in the human brain. LeDoux's work on amygdala processing of threats has helped understand exaggerated responses to threats in anxiety disorders in humans. For example, studies with Maria Morgan in the 1990s implicated the medial prefrontal cortex in the extinction of responses to threats and paved the way for understanding how exposure therapy reduces threat reactions in people with anxiety by way of interactions between the medial prefrontal cortex and the amygdala. Work conducted with Karim Nader and Glenn Schafe triggered a wave of interest in the topic of memory reconsolidation, a process by which memories become labile and subject to change after being retrieved. This led to the idea that trauma-related cues might be weakened in humans by blocking reconsolidation. Studies with Marie Mofils, Daniela Schiller and Phelps showed that extinction conducted shortly after triggering reconsolidation is considerably more effective in reducing the threat value of stimuli than conventional extinction, a finding that has proven useful in reducing drug relapse in humans.


Difference between threat response and emotions

In 2012 LeDoux emphasized the value, when discussing brain functions in animals, of using terms that are not derived from human subjective experience. The common practice of calling brain circuits that detect and respond to threats "fear circuits" implies that these circuits are responsible for feelings of fear. LeDoux has argued that so-called Pavlovian fear conditioning should be renamed Pavlovian threat conditioning to avoid the implication that "fear" is being acquired in rats or humans. In 2015 he emphasised the notion of survival functions mediated by survival circuits, the purpose of which is to keep organisms alive (rather than to make emotions). For example, defensive survival circuits exist to detect and respond to threats, and can be present in all organisms. However, only organisms that can be conscious of their own brain's activities can feel fear. Fear is a conscious experience and occurs the same way as any other kind of conscious experience: via cortical circuits that allow attention to certain forms of brain activity. He argues the only differences between an emotional and non-emotion state of consciousness are the underlying neural ingredients that contribute to the state. These ideas and their implications for understanding the neural foundations of pathological fear and anxiety are explained in his 2015 book, Anxious. In this he says "Fear and anxiety are not biologically wired... They are the consequence of the cognitive processing of nonemotional ingredients." In 2018 he further said that the
amygdala The amygdala (; plural: amygdalae or amygdalas; also '; Latin from Greek, , ', 'almond', 'tonsil') is one of two almond-shaped clusters of nuclei located deep and medially within the temporal lobes of the brain's cerebrum in complex ver ...
may release hormones due to a trigger (such as an innate reaction to seeing a snake), but "then we elaborate it through cognitive and conscious processes". He differentiated between the defence system, which has evolved over time, and emotions such as fear and
anxiety Anxiety is an emotion which is characterized by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil and includes feelings of dread over anticipated events. Anxiety is different than fear in that the former is defined as the anticipation of a future threat wh ...
. He points out that even simple organisms such as bacteria move in response to threats; "It's in the brain to allow an organism, whether it be a bacterium or a human, to detect and respond to danger. ... It's not in the brain to create feelings like fear and
anxiety Anxiety is an emotion which is characterized by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil and includes feelings of dread over anticipated events. Anxiety is different than fear in that the former is defined as the anticipation of a future threat wh ...
."
Lisa Feldman Barrett Lisa Feldman Barrett is a distinguished professor of psychology at Northeastern University, where she focuses on affective science. She is a director of the Interdisciplinary Affective Science Laboratory. Along with James Russell, she is the fo ...
takes a similar view.


Awards and professional recognition

LeDoux has received a number of awards, including the
Karl Spencer Lashley Award The Karl Spencer Lashley Award is awarded by The American Philosophical Society as a recognition of research on the integrative neuroscience of behavior. The award was established in 1957 by a gift from Dr. Karl Spencer Lashley. Recipients * 20 ...
from the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
, the Fyssen International Prize in Cognitive Science, Jean Louis Signoret Prize of the IPSEN Foundation, the Santiago Grisolia Prize, the
American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It ha ...
Distinguished Scientific Contributions Award, and the American Psychological Association Donald O. Hebb Award. He is a fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...
, the New York Academy of Sciences, and the
American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...
, a William James Fellow of the
Association for Psychological Science The Association for Psychological Science (APS), previously the American Psychological Society, is an international non-profit organization whose mission is to promote, protect, and advance the interests of scientifically oriented psychology in ...
, and a member of the
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nat ...
.


Books and other public outreach

In addition to numerous publications in scholarly journals, LeDoux has written: * ''The Integrated Mind'' (with Michael Gazzaniga, Plenum, 1978) * ''The Emotional Brain'' (Simon and Schuster, 1998) * ''Synaptic Self: How Our Brains Become Who We Are'' (Viking, 2002) * ''Anxious: Using the Brain to Understand and Treat Fear and Anxiety'' (Viking, 2015) * ''The Deep History of Ourselves: The Four-Billion-Year Story of How We Got Conscious Brains'' (Viking, 2019) He has also edited several volumes, including ''Mind and Brain: Dialogues in Cognitive Neuroscience'' (with William Hirst, Cambridge University Press, 1986), ''The Self: From Soul to Brain'' (with Jacek Debiec and Henry Moss, Annals of the New York Academy of Science, 2003), and ''Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Basic Science and Clinical Practice'' (with Peter Shiromani and Terrence Keane, Humana Press, 2009). He has also contributed to ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' Opinionator column on anxiety and to the ''
Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'', and has conducted numerous television, radio, online, and print interviews. LeDoux has also collaborated with filmmaker Alexis Gambis on a project called "My Mind's Eye" on the ''
Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it ...
'' website in which interviews with esteemed scientists and philosophers (including Eric Kandel, Michael Gazzaniga, Ned Block) are framed within the context of his music (see below).


Early life and education

Joseph LeDoux was born on December 7, 1949, in the Cajun Prairie town of
Eunice, Louisiana Eunice is a city in Acadia and St. Landry parishes in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The 2010 census placed the population at 10,398, a decrease of 1,101, or 9.5 percent, from the 2000 tabulation of 11,499. The St. Landry Parish portion of Eunic ...
, to Joseph E. "Boo" LeDoux, a traveling rodeo performer (bull rider) and butcher, and Priscilla Buller LeDoux. He attended St. Edmund's Elementary School and Eunice High School, graduating in 1967. LeDoux attended
Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 n ...
in
Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of counti ...
where he majored in Business Administration and minored in Psychology. In 1972 he began work on a Masters of Science in Marketing from LSU. During this time, his interest in psychology grew and he volunteered in the laboratory of Robert Thompson, who introduced him to brain research.


Academic and professional history

In the fall of 1974 LeDoux began a PhD program at the
State University of New York at Stony Brook Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public research university in Stony Brook, New York. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is one of the State University of New York system' ...
, and completed his degree in 1977. In 1978, LeDoux joined the Department of Neurology at Cornell Medical School as a postdoctoral fellow and remained there through the rank of associate professor until 1989. During most of his time at Cornell, he worked in the Neurobiology Laboratory where he received technical training in state-of-the-art neuroscience techniques and began the research program on the brain mechanism of emotional memory that he has pursued ever since. In 1989 he joined the newly formed Center for Neural Science at NYU as an associate professor. In 1991 he was promoted to full professor, and in 1996 he became the Henry and Lucy Moses Professor of Science. In 2005, he was named university professor, the highest honor for a faculty member at NYU.


Personal life

In 1971 LeDoux married LSU classmate Diana Steen. They divorced amicably in 1978. Since 1982 he has been married to art critic Nancy Princenthal. Currently they reside in the Williamsburg area of
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
. They have two children, Jacob S. LeDoux (died 2005) and Milo E. LeDoux. Milo is a graduate of the
University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...
, where he studied classics, and is now pursuing a career in law.


Music

Cajun/zydeco, country, R&B, rock, and their fusion into "
swamp pop Swamp pop is a music genre indigenous to the Acadiana region of south Louisiana and an adjoining section of southeast Texas. Created in the 1950s by young Cajuns and Creoles, it combines New Orleans–style rhythm and blues, country and weste ...
", were influences in LeDoux's childhood. In high school, he was a disc jockey at the local radio station, KEUN, and the rhythm guitarist of two bands: the Deadbeats and the Countdowns. Although he remained an avid music fan in later life, he did not actively play guitar for many years. In 2004, LeDoux and NYU Biology Professor
Tyler Volk Tyler Volk is a professor in the departments of environmental studies and biology at New York University. His areas of interest include principles of form and function in systems (described as metapatterns), environmental challenges to global pr ...
began performing as a cover band for small parties around NYU, and in 2006 they formed The Amygdaloids. The original band also included
Daniela Schiller Daniela Schiller (born October 26, 1972 in Israel) is a neuroscientist who leads the Affective Neuroscience Lab at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. She is best known for her work on memory reconsolidation, and on modification of emotional le ...
, (then an NYU postdoctoral fellow), and graduate student Nina Curley. The band's lyrics, mostly written by LeDoux, are based on neuroscientific, psychological, and philosophical themes, and offer scholarly insights into the role of mind and brain in daily life. Their inaugural CD, Heavy Mental, was released in 2007. On their second CD, Theory of My Mind, LeDoux and Grammy winner Rosanne Cash sing "Crime of Passion" and "Mind over Matter", both written by LeDoux. In 2012, the band released All in Our Minds, an EP in which all songs had "mind" in their title. Anxious, a companion to LeDoux's book with the same title, was released in 2015 and explores some of the same scientific themes as the book, but through song. The band's unique focus on original songs about mind and brain has landed them considerable press. They play regularly in New York City, and have also performed in Washington DC, San Antonio TX, Indianapolis IN, Lafayette LA, and Montreal. LeDoux and Amygdaloids' bassist Colin Dempsey perform as an acoustic duo called So We Are.


References


External links


LeDouxlab — LeDoux Biography

LeDoux Lab WebsiteNYU/NCS : Core Faculty : Joseph LeDouxLeDoux Lecture "What fearful rats can tell us about psychiatric treatment"Joseph LeDoux interviewed on NOUS the podcast 'On the 4 billion year journey to our conscious selves'
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ledoux, Joseph E. Living people 1949 births American cognitive scientists American neuroscientists 20th-century American psychologists 21st-century American psychologists Stony Brook University alumni New York University faculty Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Weill Medical College of Cornell University faculty