It's All In Your Mind

Presents information on a study which determined which areas of the brain help evoke feelings of romantic love. Method used to determine patterns of brain activity related to romantic love; Findings of the study; Suggestion on the possible use of the study findings as an objective means of measuring love.

By Lauren Murphy, published on September 01, 2001

LOVE

Are you so in love you can't think straight? That may be because your brain actually functions differently after you've been struck by cupid's arrow, recent research suggests.

In an attempt to understand which areas of the brain help evoke feelings of romantic love, Andreas Bartels, Ph.D., a neuroscientist at London University College, recruited 17 students claiming to be "truly and madly in love" for his study. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, he scanned their brain activity as they stared at a photograph of their loved partners. Brain activity was measured again as the same lovesick students viewed pictures of three platonic friends.

Upon examining the scans, Bartels found that while participants were gazing at pictures of their loved ones, a particular pattern of brain activity was occurring in four restricted areas--all previously associated with pleasure and emotion. And though their brains responded somewhat similarly to other affective states such as anger and fear, the response pattern to romantic love was distinctly unique.

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In light of his findings, published in the German psychology journal Psychologie Heute, Bartels suggests he may have discovered an objective means of measuring love. And though this may sound unromantic, it does lend credence to the notion that people in love share similar chemistries.