,l,ov

[lucille c.]

"As it turns out, romantic love is probably best
characterized as a motivation or goal-oriented state
that leads to various specific emotions, such as
euphoria or anxiety," Aron noted. "With this view, it
becomes clearer why the lover expresses such an
imperative to pursue his or her beloved and protect
the relationship."

Our findings show that the brain areas activated when
someone looks at a photo of their beloved only
partially overlap with the brain regions associated
with sexual arousal. Sex and romantic love involve
quite different brain systems."

(1) early stage, intense romantic love is associated
with subcortical reward regions rich with dopamine;
and (2) romantic love engages brain systems associated
with motivation to acquire a reward.

Helen E. Fisher, a research anthropologist at Rutgers
University, New Jersey, noted that not only did the
brain change as romantic love endured, but that some
of these changes were in regions associated with
pair-bonding in prairie voles. The fMRI images showed
more activity in the ventral pallidum portion of the
basal ganglia in people with longer romantic
relationships. It's in this region where receptors for
the hormone vasopressin are critical for vole
pair-bonding, or attachment.
"Humans have evolved three distinct but interrelated
brain systems for mating and reproduction – the sex
drive, romantic love, and attachment to a long term
partner," Fisher said, "and our results suggest how
feelings of romantic love might change into feelings
of attachment. Our results support what people have
always assumed – that romantic love is one of the most
powerful of all human experiences. It is definitely
more powerful than the sex drive."

For instance, Fisher point out, "If someone rejects
your sexual overtures, you don't harm yourself or the
other person. But rejected men and women in societies
around the world sometimes kill themselves or someone
else. In fact, studies indicate that some 40% of
people who are rejected in love slip into clinical
depression. Our study may also suggest some of the
underlying physiology of stalking behavior," she
added.

Source and funding

The study, "Reward, motivation and emotion systems
associated with early-stage intense romantic love," is
available online and will be in the July issue of the
Journal of Neurophysiology, published by the American
Physiological Society.
ttp://www.the-aps.org/meetings/aps/steamboat/index.htm


	

	
		
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