Joshua Johansen, Ph.D.

Research Overview

Innately aversive experiences produce emotional states in the brain which coordinate bodily reactions and trigger memory formation. However, more complex emotions occur through an evaluation of our circumstances in the context of past experiences and current internal physiological conditions.
The Johansen lab studies the neural circuits and cell coding mechanisms which translate aversive experiences into simple and complex emotional states in the brain to guide behavior and produce memories.
Our work will provide a mechanistic understanding of emotions, learning & memory and other aspects of human experience, ultimately leading to better treatment options for anxiety and trauma related psychiatric conditions.

Keywords

• neuromodulation
• neuronal coding
• behavior
• Learning and Memory
• Emotion

Selected Publications

1. Gu X, Johansen JP
   "Prefrontal encoding of an internal model for emotional inference"
   Nature, (2025)
   10.1038/s41586-025-09001-2
2. Watanabe M, Uematsu A, Johansen JP
   "Bidirectional emotional regulation through prefrontal innervation of the locus coeruleus"
   Molecular Psychiatry, (2025)
   10.1038/s41380-025-02944-y
3. Sulkes Cuevas J, Watanabe M, Uematsu A, Johansen JP
   "Whole-brain afferent input mapping to functionally distinct brainstem noradrenaline cell types"
   Neuroscience Research, Apr. 14, S0168-0102(23)00074-3 (2023)
   10.1016/j.neures.2023.04.004
4. Ormond J, Serka AS, Johansen JP
   "Enhanced reactivation of remapping place cells during aversive learning"
   Journal of Neuroscience, Jan. 3, JN-RM-1450-22 (2023)
   10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1450-22.2022
5. Yeh LF, Ozawa T, Johansen JP
   "Functional organization of the midbrain periaqueductal gray for regulating aversive memory formation"
   Molecular Brain, 14, 136 (2021)
   10.1186/s13041-021-00844-0
6. Poe GR, Foote S, Eschenko O, Johansen JP, Bouret S, Aston-Jones G, Harley CW, Manahan-Vaughan D, Weinshenker D, Valentino R, Berridge C, Chandler DJ, Waterhouse B, Sara SJ
   "Locus coeruleus: a new look at the blue spot"
   Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 21, 644-659 (2020)
   10.1038/s41583-020-0360-9
7. Likhtik E, Johansen JP
   "Neuromodulation in Circuits of Aversive Emotional Learning"
   Nature Neuroscience, Nov:22(11):1946 (2019)
   https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31551602/
8. Uematsu A, Tan BZ, Ycu EA, Sulkes-Cuevas J, Koivumaa J, Junyent F, Kremer EJ, Witten IB, Deisseroth K, Johansen JP
   "Modular organization of the brainstem noradrenaline system coordinates opposing learning states"
   Nature Neuroscience, 20(11):1602-1611 (2017)
   https://www.nature.com/articles/nn.4642
9. Ozawa T, Ycu EA, Kumar A, Yeh L-F, Ahmed T, Koivumaa J, Johansen JP
   "A feedback neural circuit for calibrating aversive memory strength"
   Nature Neuroscience, 20(1):90-97 (2017)
   https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27842071
10. Madarasz TJ, Diaz-Mataix L Akhand O, Ycu EA, LeDoux JE, Johansen JP
    "Evaluation of ambiguous associations in the amygdala by learning the structure of the environment"
    Nature Neuroscience, 19:965-972 (2016)
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27214568