Psychology Department -> People -> Faculty Directory ->
Hongjoo (Joanne) Lee, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Email: leehj@psy.utexas.edu
Phone: 232-8055
Office: SEA 4.222
Lee Lab
See also Behavioral Neuroscience
I received my Ph.D. in Psychology with a Behavioral Neuroscience emphasis from Yale University. My doctoral research was focused on the role of the amygdala in fear learning and how stress modulates learning and memory. For my postdoctoral training, I worked in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University. My primary research goal has been to use a multidisciplinary approach to understand amygdala-dopamine systems in learning and memory, and applying this knowledge to better understand the nature of emotional and cognitive problems seen among people with neurological disorders. In particular, my current research focuses on examining the nature of cognitive functions (e.g. attention) in which the amygdala central nucleus and substantia nigra circuits are involved. This line of research is especially relevant for the understanding and treatment of cognitive problems associated with Parkinson’s disease.
Selected Publications
Lee, H.J., Choi, J-S., Brown, T.H., & Kim, J.J. (2001). Amygdala N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors are critical for the expression of multiple conditioned fear responses. Journal of Neuroscience. 21: 4116-4124.
Kim, J.J., Lee, H.J., Han, J.S., & Packard, M.G. (2001). Amygdala is critical for stress-induced modulation of hippocampal Long-Term Potentiation and learning. Journal of Neuroscience. 21: 5222-5228.
Lee, H.J., Groshek, F., Petrovich, G.D., Cantalini, J.P., Gallagher, M., & Holland, P.C. (2005). Role of amygdalo-nigral circuitry in conditioning of a visual stimulus paired with food. Journal of Neuroscience. 25: 3881-3888.
Lee, H.J., Youn, J.M., O, M.J., Gallagher, M., & Holland, P.C. (2006). Role of substantia nigra-amygdala connections in surprise-induced enhancement of attention. Journal of Neuroscience. 26:6077-6081.
Kim, J.J., Lee, H.J., Welday, A.C., Song, E.Y., Cho, J., Sharp, P.E., Jung, M.W., & Blair, H.T. (2007). Stress-induced alterations in hippocampal plasticity, place cells, and spatial memory. PNAS. 104:18297-18302.
Kosten, T.A., Lee, H.J., & Kim, J.J. (2007). Neonatal handling alters learning in adult male and female rats in a task-specific manner. Brain Research. 1154:144-153.
Lee, H.J., Youn, J.M., Gallagher, M., & Holland, P.C. (2008) Temporally-limited role of substantia nigra-central amygdala connections in surprise-induced enhancement of learning. European Journal of Neuroscience. 27: 3043-3049.
Haberman, R.P., Lee, H.J., Colantuoni, C., Koh, M.T., & Gallagher, M. (2008). Rapid encoding of new information alters the profile of plasticity-related mRNA transcripts in the hippocampal CA3 region. PNAS. 105:10601-10606.
Graham, L.K., Yoon, T., Lee, H.J., & Kim, J.J. (2009) Strain and sex differences in fear conditioning: 22 kHz ultrasonice vocalizations and freezing in rats. Psychology & Neuroscience. 2:219-225
Lee, H.J., Gallagher, M., & Holland, P.C. (2010). The central amygdala projection to the substantia nigra reflects prediction error information in appetitive conditioning. Learning & Memory. 17:531-538.
* selected as the editor’s pick of the month and for the journal cover art
* selected as faculty of 1000 article
Lee, H.J., Wheeler D.S., Holland, P.C.(2011). Interactions between amygdala central nucleus and the ventral tegmental area in the acquisition of conditioned cue-directed behavior in rats. European Journal of Neuroscience. 33(10). 1876-1884
