Joseph Ledoux

Joseph LeDoux, who was also influenced by the review, modified Cohen’s protocol for classical conditioning and applied it to the rat, developing what has emerged as the best experimental system for studying the cellular mechanisms of learned fear in mammals.

Kandel credits LeDoux with establishing the definitive rodent model for learned fear, centered on the amygdala, which subsequently anchored the molecular neuroscience of fear memory.

Kandel, Eric R., In search of memory the emergence of a new science of mind, 2006thesis

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I believe LeDoux’s work shows how it can be reduced. LeDoux, The Emotional Brain (New York, 1996; London, 1998).

Sorabji invokes LeDoux’s neuroscientific findings on amygdala reactivity to argue that the philosophical concept of affectivity or feeling is not irreducible but can be explained through brain research.

Richard Sorabji, Emotion and Peace of Mind: From Stoic Agitation to Christian Temptation, 2000thesis

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In his well-known analysis of fear, Joseph LeDoux states (1996: 69) that, in general, ‘[t]he perceptual representation of an object and the evaluation of an object are separately processed in the brain.’

Konstan draws on LeDoux’s dual-pathway model of fear to argue that emotional responses can precede full cognitive evaluation, supporting a distinction between pre-emotions and fully cognitive emotions in ancient thought.

David Konstan, The Emotions of the Ancient Greeks: Studies in Aristotle and Classical Literature, 2006thesis

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LeDoux directs the Emotional Brain Institute at New York University and at the Nathan Kline Institute, and he is the author of Synaptic Self and The Emotional Brain.

This authorial introduction establishes LeDoux’s institutional identity and corpus, anchoring the Anxious volume within his broader program of distinguishing unconscious defensive responses from consciously experienced anxiety.

LeDoux, Joseph, Anxious: Using the Brain to Understand and Treat Fear and Anxiety, 2015supporting

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LeDoux, Joseph E., 274–75

Barrett’s index entry for LeDoux, pointing to her critical engagement with his amygdala-centered model of emotion in the context of her theory of constructed emotion.

Barrett, Lisa Feldman, How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain, 2017supporting

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LaBar, Kevin S., J. Christopher Gatenby, John C. Gore, Joseph E. LeDoux, and Elizabeth A. Phelps. 1998. ‘Human Amygdala Activation During Conditioned Fear Acquisition and Extinction: A Mixed-Trial fMRI Study.’

Barrett cites LeDoux’s collaborative fMRI research on conditioned fear as part of the empirical literature her constructionist theory must address and reinterpret.

Barrett, Lisa Feldman, How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain, 2017supporting

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I have long been a critic of the limbic system theory of emotion. It is based on Edinger’s theory of brain evolution (Edinger, 1908; Ariëns Kappers et al, 1936), which has since been

LeDoux signals his own theoretical position by distancing his amygdala-centered framework from the broader and, in his view, outdated limbic system concept.

LeDoux, Joseph, Anxious: Using the Brain to Understand and Treat Fear and Anxiety, 2015aside

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For a critique of the natural kind view of emotion, see Barrett (2006a, 2006b, 2013); Barrett et al (2007); LeDoux (2012).

LeDoux aligns himself with Barrett’s critique of basic-emotion essentialism, revealing his own constructionist sympathies regarding the ontological status of discrete emotional categories.

LeDoux, Joseph, Anxious: Using the Brain to Understand and Treat Fear and Anxiety, 2015aside

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