This is what really happens to your brain when you fall in love
While it is well known that love can change the brain thanks to a little chemical called oxytocin, researchers have now determined exactly why we place the people we love on a pedestal.
A new study from Australia has investigated the link between the human brain's behavioural activation system (BAS) and romantic love.
Researchers from the Australian National University, the University of Canberra and the University of South Australia surveyed 1,556 young adults who all said they were ‘in love’.
The survey looked at the emotional reaction the participants had towards their partner, their behaviour around them, and how likely they were to focus on their partner above anyone else.
Findings from the study showed that when we are in love, our brain reacts differently to when we are not in love, and makes the person we are in love with the centre of our world.
“We actually know very little about the evolution of romantic love,” ANU lead researcher and PhD student Adam Bode, says of the study published in the journal Behavioural Sciences.
“It is thought that romantic love first emerged some five million years ago after we split from our ancestors, the great apes. We know the ancient Greeks philosophised about it a lot, recognising it both as an amazing as well as traumatic experience. The oldest poem ever to be recovered was in fact a love poem dated to around 2000 BC.”
University of Canberra academic and UniSA Adjunct Associate Professor, Dr Phil Kavanagh, adds: “We know the role that oxytocin plays in romantic love, because we get waves of it circulating throughout our nervous system and blood stream when we interact with loved ones.
“The way that loved ones take on special importance, however, is due to oxytocin combined with dopamine, a chemical that our brain releases during romantic love. Essentially, love activates pathways in the brain associated with positive feelings.”
Researchers say the next stage of the study would involve investigating the differences between men and women and how each sex approaches love, along with identifying the different types of romantic partners.
A separate study from 2005 that analysed 2,500 brain scans of university students who said they were in love, and found that when the students were shown a picture of their loved one the regions of their brain that’s rich in dopamine – a feel-good transmitter – became active.
Dr Becky Spelman, Psychologist and Founder at Private Therapy Clinic previously told Yahoo UK that the feeling of love is characterised by a genuine concern for the wellbeing and happiness of the subject of your affections.
“You prioritise their needs, support them through both joys and challenges and you accept and appreciate them for who they are," she explained.
"You can expect a sense of emotional intimacy, where you feel comfortable being vulnerable and sharing your deepest thoughts and feelings with the person you love. You might feel a desire for a long-term, committed relationship, encompassing trust, loyalty, and a willingness to work through difficulties together."
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