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Neuroscience
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2026
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Psychology
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2026

D-Index & Metrics

Neuroscience

D-Index
147
Citations
81283
World Ranking
159
National Ranking
100

Psychology

D-Index
145
Citations
77249
World Ranking
93
National Ranking
54

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2026 - Research.com Neuroscience in United States Leader Award
  • 2026 - Research.com Psychology in United States Leader Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Neuroscience in United States Leader Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Psychology in United States Leader Award
  • 2015 - Grawemeyer Award in Psychology, University of Louisville
  • 2009 - Karl Spencer Lashley Award, The American Philosophical Society In recognition of his comprehensive study of the biological processes that modulate the formation and consolidation of memory
  • 1992 - Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • 1989 - Member of the National Academy of Sciences
  • 1989 - William James Fellow Award, Association for Psychological Science (APA)
  • 1981 - APA Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Psychology, American Psychological Association
  • 1970 - Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Overview

James L. McGaugh is affiliated with the University of California, Irvine in the United States. Their research primarily focuses on the field of neuroscience, with a total of 13 publications in this area. Within neuroscience, they have contributed to several subfields, including cognitive neuroscience, cellular and molecular neuroscience, behavioral neuroscience, social psychology, and molecular biology.

Their work covers multiple main topics, emphasizing:

  • Memory and Neural Mechanisms
  • Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
  • Stress Responses and Cortisol
  • Neuroendocrine Regulation and Behavior
  • Sleep and Wakefulness Research
  • Childhood Cancer Survivors' Quality of Life
  • Epigenetics and DNA Methylation

Frequent co-authors in their research include:

  • Benno Roozendaal
  • Vanja Vukojević
  • David Coynel
  • Navid Ghaffari
  • Virginie Freytag

Their research has been published predominantly in the following venues:

  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
  • Neuroscience
  • Neurobiology of Learning and Memory
  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
  • Nature Neuroscience

Recent papers by James L. McGaugh include:

  • The Entorhinal Cortex as a Gateway for Amygdala Influences on Memory Consolidation, 2022, Neuroscience
  • Bed nuclei of the stria terminalis modulate memory consolidation via glucocorticoid-dependent and -independent circuits, 2020, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
  • Basolateral amygdala activation enhances object recognition memory by inhibiting anterior insular cortex activity, 2022, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
  • NTRK2 methylation is related to reduced PTSD risk in two African cohorts of trauma survivors, 2020, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
  • Glucocorticoid effects on working memory impairment require l-type calcium channel activity within prefrontal cortex, 2022, Neurobiology of Learning and Memory

James L. McGaugh has received multiple awards across their career, including:

  • Grawemeyer Award in Psychology, University of Louisville, 2015
  • Karl Spencer Lashley Award, The American Philosophical Society, 2009, in recognition of their comprehensive study of the biological processes that modulate the formation and consolidation of memory
  • Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1992
  • Member of the National Academy of Sciences, 1989
  • William James Fellow Award, Association for Psychological Science (APA), 1989
  • APA Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Psychology, American Psychological Association, 1981
  • Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 1970

Best Publications

  • Memory--a century of consolidation.

    James L. McGaugh

  • THE AMYGDALA MODULATES THE CONSOLIDATION OF MEMORIES OF EMOTIONALLY AROUSING EXPERIENCES

    James L. McGaugh

  • MECHANISMS OF EMOTIONAL AROUSAL AND LASTING DECLARATIVE MEMORY

    Larry Cahill;James L. McGaugh

  • Time-dependent processes in memory storage

    James L. McGaugh

  • Beta-adrenergic activation and memory for emotional events.

    Larry Cahill;Bruce Prins;Michael Weber;Michael Weber;James L. McGaugh

  • Inactivation of Hippocampus or Caudate Nucleus with Lidocaine Differentially Affects Expression of Place and Response Learning

    Mark G. Packard;James L. McGaugh

  • Intraneuronal Aβ Causes the Onset of Early Alzheimer’s Disease-Related Cognitive Deficits in Transgenic Mice

    Lauren M. Billings;Salvatore Oddo;Kim N. Green;James L. McGaugh

  • Stress and glucocorticoids impair retrieval of long-term spatial memory

    Dominique J.-F. de Quervain;Benno Roozendaal;James L. McGaugh

  • Amygdala activity at encoding correlated with long-term, free recall of emotional information.

    Larry Cahill;Richard J. Haier;James Fallon;Michael T. Alkire

  • The amygdala and emotional memory.

    Larry Cahill;Ralf Babinsky;Hans J. Markowitsch;James L. McGaugh

  • Inhibition of activity-dependent arc protein expression in the rat hippocampus impairs the maintenance of long-term potentiation and the consolidation of long-term memory

    John F. Guzowski;Gregory L. Lyford;Gail D. Stevenson;Frank P. Houston

  • Role of adrenal stress hormones in forming lasting memories in the brain.

    James L McGaugh;Benno Roozendaal

  • Acute cortisone administration impairs retrieval of long-term declarative memory in humans.

    Dominique J.-F. de Quervain;Dominique J.-F. de Quervain;Benno Roozendaal;Roger M. Nitsch;James L. McGaugh

  • Involvement of the amygdala in memory storage: Interaction with other brain systems

    James L. McGaugh;Larry Cahill;Benno Roozendaal

  • Experience-dependent gene expression in the rat hippocampus after spatial learning: a comparison of the immediate-early genes Arc, c-fos, and zif268.

    John F. Guzowski;Barry Setlow;Edward K. Wagner;James L. McGaugh

  • A novel demonstration of enhanced memory associated with emotional arousal.

    Larry Cahill;James L. McGaugh

  • Glucocorticoids increase amyloid-beta and tau pathology in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease.

    Kim N. Green;Lauren M. Billings;Benno Roozendaal;James L. McGaugh

  • The role of interactions between the cholinergic system and other neuromodulatory systems in learning and memory.

    Michael W. Decker;James L. McGaugh

  • Double dissociation of fornix and caudate nucleus lesions on acquisition of two water maze tasks: Further evidence for multiple memory systems.

    Mark G. Packard;James L. McGaugh

  • Memory consolidation and the amygdala: a systems perspective

    James L McGaugh

  • Involvement of Hormonal and Neuromodulatory Systems in the Regulation of Memory Storage

    James L. McGaugh

Frequent Co-Authors

Benno Roozendaal
Benno Roozendaal Radboud University
Larry Cahill
Larry Cahill University of California, Irvine
Paul E. Gold
Paul E. Gold Syracuse University
Carl W. Cotman
Carl W. Cotman University of California, Irvine
Keng-Chen Liang
Keng-Chen Liang National Taiwan University
Norman M. Weinberger
Norman M. Weinberger University of California, Irvine
Dominique J.-F. de Quervain
Dominique J.-F. de Quervain University of Basel
Ivan Izquierdo
Ivan Izquierdo Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul
Federico Bermúdez-Rattoni
Federico Bermúdez-Rattoni National Autonomous University of Mexico
Mark G. Packard
Mark G. Packard Texas A&M University

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