Joseph LeDoux talks with Roger Bingham about his "heavy mental" band, the Amygdaloids, which plays all original songs about mind and brain disorders. LeDoux further discusses his research into fear and emotion, what the Amygdala does, and what functional imaging tells us.
Joseph Le Doux is the Henry and Lucy Moses Professor of Science, and professor of neuroscience and psychology at New York University. His research is aimed at understanding the biological mechanisms of emotional memory – particularly in how the brain learns and stores information about danger. He is also the director of the Center for the Neuroscience of Fear and Anxiety, a multi-university Center in New York City devoted to understanding pathological fear and anxiety in humans. His most recent book is Synaptic Self: How Our Brains Become Who We Are. LeDoux is also a singer and guitarist in the science-themed rock band The Amygdaloids, whose musical genre has been wittily characterized as Heavy Mental.