Love
Surveys of personal well-being always find that personal relationships are a major source of
satisfaction in people's lives. To sustain well-being, people need supportive, positive relationships
and social belonging. Only a few misanthropes have denied that loving relationships are a major part
of what gives life meaning. Most people value romantic interactions, family ties, and friendship. The
99 percent of people who are not psychopathic are also capable of caring for people beyond their
immediate circle, showing compassion for the suffering of others. Understanding of the brain
processes that underlie these kinds of social values is just beginning.
The neural mechanisms for romantic love have been investigated by a team that includes the
anthropologist Helen Fisher, psychologist Arthur Aron, and neuroscientist Lucy Brown. They cite
anthropological evidence that intense romantic love is a cross-culturally and historically universal
phenomenon. It is associated with specific physiological, psychological, and behavioral changes,
including euphoria, intense focused attention, obsessive thinking, emotional dependency, and
increased energy. Fisher and her colleagues used brain scans (fMRI) to investigate the neural systems
involved in romantic love. The researchers selected participants who reported having recently fallen
in love, and scanned their brains while they looked at a picture of their new romantic interest. Brain
activity in this situation was contrasted with activity when the participant looked at a similar but
emotionally neutral picture of a familiar acquaintance.
When people looked at pictures of their new romantic partners, their brains showed increased
activity in regions that mediate reward via the dopamine system described in chapter 5, particularly
the ventral tegmental area and the nucleus accumbens. These are the same areas activated by rewardproducing
drugs such as cocaine that also lead to exhilaration, sleeplessness, and loss of appetite.
Cortical areas associated with emotion were also involved, including the insula, the anterior
cingulate, and the amygdala, all of which are included in the EMOCON model of chapter 5. That
viewing a romantic partner stimulates brain areas associated with reward and pleasure explains why
it feels so good to fall in love. An earlier study of romantic love by Andreas Bartels and Semir Zeki
also found increased activation in the insula and the cingulate, but did not detect increased activation
in the dopamine system. The differences in the two studies may reflect the fact that the earlier study
looked at people in a later stage of romantic love where the intensity of pleasure had diminished.
But love is not just a feeling, as it also provides a spur to actions that serve to bring one closer to
another. Fisher and her colleagues also found that people looking at romantic pictures had high
activation in a brain region called the caudate nucleus, part of the basal ganglia, which includes the
nucleus accumbens. The caudate contributes to the representation of goals, expectation of reward, and
integration of sensory inputs to prepare for action. Romantic love can be viewed as a goal-oriented
state that leads to specific emotions such as euphoria and anxiety rather than as a specific emotion. Its
neurophysiology seems to differ from that of mere sexual attraction and also from that of long-term
attachment.
LoveSurveys of personal well-being always find that personal relationships are a major source ofsatisfaction in people's lives. To sustain well-being, people need supportive, positive relationshipsand social belonging. Only a few misanthropes have denied that loving relationships are a major partof what gives life meaning. Most people value romantic interactions, family ties, and friendship. The99 percent of people who are not psychopathic are also capable of caring for people beyond theirimmediate circle, showing compassion for the suffering of others. Understanding of the brainprocesses that underlie these kinds of social values is just beginning.The neural mechanisms for romantic love have been investigated by a team that includes theanthropologist Helen Fisher, psychologist Arthur Aron, and neuroscientist Lucy Brown. They citeanthropological evidence that intense romantic love is a cross-culturally and historically universalphenomenon. It is associated with specific physiological, psychological, and behavioral changes,including euphoria, intense focused attention, obsessive thinking, emotional dependency, andincreased energy. Fisher and her colleagues used brain scans (fMRI) to investigate the neural systemsinvolved in romantic love. The researchers selected participants who reported having recently fallenin love, and scanned their brains while they looked at a picture of their new romantic interest. Brainactivity in this situation was contrasted with activity when the participant looked at a similar butemotionally neutral picture of a familiar acquaintance.When people looked at pictures of their new romantic partners, their brains showed increasedactivity in regions that mediate reward via the dopamine system described in chapter 5, particularlythe ventral tegmental area and the nucleus accumbens. These are the same areas activated by rewardproducingdrugs such as cocaine that also lead to exhilaration, sleeplessness, and loss of appetite.Cortical areas associated with emotion were also involved, including the insula, the anteriorcingulate, and the amygdala, all of which are included in the EMOCON model of chapter 5. Thatviewing a romantic partner stimulates brain areas associated with reward and pleasure explains whyit feels so good to fall in love. An earlier study of romantic love by Andreas Bartels and Semir Zekialso found increased activation in the insula and the cingulate, but did not detect increased activationin the dopamine system. The differences in the two studies may reflect the fact that the earlier studylooked at people in a later stage of romantic love where the intensity of pleasure had diminished.But love is not just a feeling, as it also provides a spur to actions that serve to bring one closer toanother. Fisher and her colleagues also found that people looking at romantic pictures had highactivation in a brain region called the caudate nucleus, part of the basal ganglia, which includes thenucleus accumbens. The caudate contributes to the representation of goals, expectation of reward, andintegration of sensory inputs to prepare for action. Romantic love can be viewed as a goal-orientedstate that leads to specific emotions such as euphoria and anxiety rather than as a specific emotion. Itsneurophysiology seems to differ from that of mere sexual attraction and also from that of long-termattachment.
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