Washington, February 13: A latest research has given a scientific base to the universal emotion called ‘love’. Researchers claim that brain images, hormones and genetics can help explain love.
Larry Young at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center at Emory University in Atlanta analyzed the brain of a monogamous rodent in order to understand how the minds of people in love actually work.
Bianca Acevedo from the Albert Einstein College of medicine in New York and his team believe that there are four small areas in the brain which constitute the circuit of love. These regions are the ventral tegmental area (VTA), the nucleus accumbens, the ventral pallidum and raphe nucleus. The most important spot is the VTA. It is in the shape of a tear drop.
In order to conduct the research, functional magnetic resonance imaging machine was used. People newly in love were put in this machine and then shown the images of their beloved. It was seen that the VTA lights up in all the cases. The same applied for people still going strong in love after 20 years.
Helen Fisher, a researcher and professor at Rutgers University, explained, “These are cells that make dopamine and send it to different brain regions. This part of the system becomes activated because you’re trying to win life’s greatest prize- a mating partner.”
The latest research has compared love to drug addiction. This means love works chemically in the brain just as addiction to drugs does. Acevedo said that this association seems horrible. He was quoted as saying, “Love is supposed to be something wonderful and grand, but it has its reasons. The reasons I think is to keep us together.”
But love also leads to heartbreak. So the scientists also analyzed the brains of recently heartbroken people. It was discovered that there is some hyperactivity in the nucleus accumbens. This has even a more strong connection with addiction.
The emotions of heartbroken people were similar to craving for a drug like cocaine.
But when the brains of people married for almost 20 years were scanned, it was found that two areas of the brain got activated. These were the VTA and raphe nucleus.
Fisher explained that VTA is related to feeling of attachment and hormones that reduce stress. While the raphe nucleus releases serotonin which gives us a sense of calmness.
If utilized properly, the current research can lead to the development of pills based on the brain hormones. This might eventually help in solving problems present in troubled relationships. However, there are ethical issues associated with this type of therapy.
Larry Young elaborated that love can be simulated with chemicals. He said, “If you really want, you know, to get the relationship spark back, then engage in the behavior that stimulates the release of these molecules and allow them to stimulate the emotions.”
Post new comment