Published: Jan. 27, 2000

Editors: Joseph LeDoux will be available for press interviews before the lecture between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Contact Steven Maier at (303) 492-6275 to arrange an interview.

Joseph LeDoux, groundbreaking researcher in the biology of emotions and author of the 1996 book "The Emotional Brain," will give a talk at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 3, in Old Main Chapel on the University of Colorado at Boulder campus.

The lecture, "Emotional Synapses," delves into LeDouxÂ’s research which uncovered the neural circuits in the body by which the emotions of fear and anxiety are developed and expressed. Prior to LeDouxÂ’s work, the bodyÂ’s emotions had been a relatively ignored area of study.

Much of LeDouxÂ’s work is distinguished by his ability to communicate his ideas and findings with general and scientific audiences, making his groundbreaking work accessible to a large audience. LeDoux is the Henry and Lucy Moses Professor of Science and director of the Center for the Neuroscience of Fear and Anxiety at New York University.

LeDoux is the latest speaker invited to CU-Boulder to give the Rose M. Litman Memorial Lecture in Science, which was established in 1981 to honor LitmanÂ’s memory as an administrator and member of the Boulder campus faculty.

From 1975 until her sudden death in 1981, Rose Litman was associate vice chancellor for research, director of the Office of Contracts and Grants and associate professor of molecular, cellular, and developmental biology at CU-Boulder.

The lecture is free and open to the public.