CNS 2026 | The 32nd Annual George A. Miller Prize in Cognitive Neuroscience (GAM)

Congratulations to Joseph LeDoux, our 2026 Annual George A. Miller Prize in Cognitive Neuroscience Awardee. Dr. LeDoux will accept this prestigious award and deliver his lecture in Vancouver, BC, Canada, March 8, 2026 in the Grand Ballroom of the JW Marriott Parq Vancouver. 

Putting the 'Mental' Back Into 'Mental' Disorders by Fusing the Science of Emotion with the Science of Consciousness

Joseph LeDoux, Ph.D.

Professor Emeritus, New York University

People often seek help for mental problems because they suffer subjectively. Yet, for decades, the subjective experiences of patients have been marginalized due to the dominant medical model of mental illness, which arose in the mid Twentieth Century and viewed subjective experiences as quaint relics from less enlightened scientific time. To the extent that subjective symptoms reflect a latent disease, it was assumed that with subjective treatment of objective symptoms, such as behavioral and physiological responses, subjective mental symptoms will go away. But given that 'mental’ disorders are named for, and defined by, their subjective mental qualities, it is perhaps not surprising, in retrospect, that treatments that have sidelined subjective experiences have been disappointing at best. There were few avenues for rigorously studying conscious experiences when these negative views about subjective experience took root in psychiatry and allied fields. Today, however, research on consciousness is thriving, and could potentially help achieve a deeper understanding of mental disorders and their treatment. But a new approach is needed, one that fuses the science of emotion with the science of consciousness. Presently, both fields are diminished by mutual ignorance, and much could be gained by a science of emotional consciousness in which emotion researchers accept that emotions are conscious experiences, and consciousness researchers accept that emotions are our most important conscious experiences.

About

Joseph LeDoux is a pioneer in the modern study of the emotional brain. He did his PhD with Mike Gazzaniga on the role of inner narrations that define human conscious experiences. He then turned to studies of emotional behavior in rodents, research that implicated the amygdala in the unconscious processing of emotional stimuli. Using state of the art methodology his work helped bring “emotion” back into neuroscience after decades of neglect. His interest in consciousness ultimately led him to rethink the role of the amygdala as a defensive survival, rather than a fear circuit, with the conscious experience of fear being a cognitive interpretation/ narration of one’s situation. Besides being a much-acclaimed researcher, LeDoux has also been a leader in conveying his views about the science of emotion to the lay public through his award-winning books. He also invented a music genre (heavy mental) and co-wrote a musical about PTSD. He is one of several scientists featured in Werner Herzog’s latest documentary, which also includes three of LeDoux’ songs. Few neuroscientists can claim such a wide breadth of contributions to neuroscience, psychology and psychiatry, and also to society at large.

 

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Previous Winners of the George A. Miller Lectureship

2025 Ken Paller, Ph.D., Northwestern University
2024 Lynn Nadel, Ph.D., University of Arizona
2023 Sabine Kastner, M.D., Ph.D., Princeton University
2022 BJ Casey, Ph.D., Yale University
2021 Elizabeth Phelps, Ph.D., Harvard University
2020 Nancy Kanwisher, Ph.D, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2019 Earl K. Miller, Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2018 Elizabeth Spelke, Ph.D., Harvard University
2017 Dr. David Van Essen, Ph.D., Alumni Endowed Processor, Washington University in St Louis
2016 Brian Wandell, Ph.D., Isaac and Madeline Stein Family Professor
2015 Patricia Kuhl, Ph.D., University of Washington
2014 Jon Kaas, Ph.D., Vanderbilt University
2013 Fred Gage, Ph.D., The Salk Institute
2012 Eve Marder, Ph.D., Brandeis University
2011 Mortimer Mishkin, Ph.D., NIMH
2010 Steven Pinker, Ph.D., Harvard University
2009 Marcus Raichle, M.D., Washington University School of Medicine
2008 Anne Treisman, Ph.D., Princeton University
2007 Joaquin M. Fuster, Ph.D., University of California Los Angeles
2006 Steven A. Hillyard, Ph.D., University of California San Diego
2005 Leslie Ungerleider, Ph.D., National Institute of Mental Health
2004 Michael Posner, Ph.D., University of Oregon
2003 Michael Gazzaniga, Ph.D., Dartmouth College
2002 Daniel Kahneman, Ph.D., Princeton University
2001 William Newsome, Ph.D., Stanford University
2000 Patricia Churchland, Ph.D., University of California, San Diego
1999 Giacommo Rizzolatti, M.D., University of Parma, Italy
1998 Susan Carey, Ph.D., New York University
1997 Roger Shepard, Ph.D., Stanford University
1996 David Premack, Ph.D., CNRS, France
1995 David H. Hubel, M.D., Harvard Medical School