James W. Pennebaker, Chairman | SEA 4.212 | The University of Texas at Austin | Austin, TX 78712 | 512-471-1157

Home | About Us | Contact Us | Search UT | Seay Building Info | Alumni

Faculty Directory

Faculty & TA Office Hours

Books by Faculty

Area Chairs and Faculty

Faculty Labs & Affiliated Organizations

Hongjoo (Joanne) Lee, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Email: leehj@psy.utexas.edu Phone: 232-8055 Office: SEA 4.222 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.