LeDoux, Joseph E.

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LeDoux, Joseph E.

PERSONAL: Education: Louisiana State University, B.S. and M.S.; State University of New York, Stony Brook, Ph.D., 1977.

ADDRESSES: Office—Center for Neural Science, New York University, 4 Washington Place, Room 809, New York, NY 10003-6621. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Author, editor, neurobiologist, and educator. New York University, Center for Neural Science, New York, NY, professor of neural science and psychology, Henry and Lucy Moses Professor of Science.

AWARDS, HONORS: Fyssen Prize in cognitive science, 2005.

WRITINGS:

NONFICTION

(Editor, with William Hirst) Mind and Brain: Dialogues in Cognitive Neuroscience, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1986.

The Emotional Brain: The Mysterious Underpinnings of Emotional Life, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1996.

Synaptic Self: How Our Brains Become Who We Are, Viking (New York, NY), 2002.

(Editor, with Jacek Debiec and Henry Moss) The Self: From Soul to Brain, New York Academy of Sciences (New York, NY), 2003.

Contributor of articles to periodicals, including Behavioral Neuroscience, Neuron, Cerebral Cortex, and Synapse.

SIDELIGHTS: A leader in the field of neuroscience, author and editor Joseph E. LeDoux has devoted much of his career to determining how emotions are related to the brain. LeDoux, a professor at New York University's Center for Neural Science, has been most interested in fear. He is also a specialist on memory, and he has produced two books that are representative of his laboratory work. In 1986, he and William Hirst edited Mind and Brain: Dialogues in Cognitive Neuroscience, which includes a number of essays by some of the leading figures in the fields of neurobiology and cognitive psychology. A decade later LeDoux authored The Emotional Brain: The Mysterious Underpinnings of Emotional Life, a work that emphasizes his cutting-edge studies of how the brain regulates emotions. Although some of LeDoux's neurobiological findings are disputed by other scientists, many in the field agree that his work has fostered greater understanding of emotional response, both in humans and other animals of higher intelligence.

Critical opinion of Mind and Brain largely concentrates on its experimental nature. Science reviewer Bruce Brideman, for example, called the format "innovative," and assessed the book as "ambitious." D.P. Kimble, reviewing the book for Choice, also applauded its format, which he referred to as a "bold and innovative strategy." However, Kimble did fault the work for what he termed a few "shortcomings": namely, that it "underrepresents" current interactions between the two schools, and also that it "gives the impression that the interactions between the two are necessarily asymmetrical." Kimble went on to remark that Mind and Brain is a "valuable book that will foster dialogue between cognitive psychologists and neurobiologists."

Overall, critical response to The Emotional Brain was favorable. Raymond J. Dolan asserted in Nature that the author's "style of writing is highly accessible." In addition, Dolan maintained that the book represents "an important step in bringing emotion back into mainstream cognitive neuroscience." Lewis Wolpert, reviewing the book for the London Observer, referred to it as an "excellent account," in which the author "explains the ideas very clearly." New York Times Book Review critic Richard Restak also applauded the work, calling it an "engrossing and engaging book."

Synaptic Self: How Our Brains Become Who We Are continues the explorations begun in The Emotional Brain. LeDoux explains the biological foundations of selfhood. Illuminating the basics of brain chemistry and science, he shows how the synapses—connections between the neurons—control human actions, feelings, dreams, and memories. He does not deny other theories of selfhood, such as those that define it as a spiritual, moral, or psychological quality; he does, however, attempt to provide a chemical and physical basis for people's personalities. According to a reviewer for Science News, the author admits that his theory is "a working hypothesis," but, the reviewer added, "he presents it ably." Library Journal contributor Gregg Sapp predicted that this book "will be of vital interest to those in the field and to informed lay readers."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Choice, January, 1987, D.P. Kimble, review of Mind and Brain: Dialogues in Cognitive Neuroscience, p. 826.

Contemporary Psychology, September, 1987, review of Mind and Brain, pp. 780-781.

Human Nature Review, January 28, 2003, review of Synaptic Self: How Our Brains Become Who We Are.

Kirkus Reviews, November 1, 2001, review of Synaptic Self, p. 1535; January 14, 2002, review of Synaptic Self.

Library Journal, December, 2001, Gregg Sapp, review of Synaptic Self, p. 162.

Nature, February 20, 1997, Raymond J. Dolan, review of The Emotional Brain: The Mysterious Underpinnings of Emotional Life, p. 694.

New York Times, October 8, 2002, Claudia Dreifus, interview with Joseph E. LeDoux, p. F6.

New York Times Book Review, December 1, 1996, Richard Restak, review of The Emotional Brain, p. 30.

Observer (London, England), February 15, 1998, review of The Emotional Brain, p. 15; March 24, 2002, Lewis Wolpert, review of Synaptic Self, p. 16.

Publishers Weekly, December 10, 2001, review of Synaptic Self, p. 61.

Science, January 16, 1987, Bruce Brideman, review of Mind and Brain, pp. 373-374; April 12, 2002, Richard J. Davidson, review of Synaptic Self, p. 268.

Science News, April 6, 2002, review of Synaptic Self, p. 223.

Sunday Telegraph (London, England), March 24, 2002, Terence Kealey, review of Synaptic Self.