Brain activity proves lifelong love

US study: brain activity proves lifelong love

12/01/2011

Researchers make feelings visible and provide proof of lifelong love. The team led by Bianca Acevedo and Arthur Aron from Stony Brook University in New York State has demonstrated similar activity patterns in the brains of happy long-term couples and newly-in-love lovers.

As part of a study, US scientists compared people's brain activity in a long-term happy relationship with that of newly-inmates, with astounding results: Long-married people who call themselves happily in love have the same pattern of activity in their brains as „Freshly in love“. In addition, longtime adolescents showed less activity in areas of the brain responsible for fear and anxiety, but increased activities in brain areas that are important for affection and bond retention, Stony Brook University psychologists said.

MRI makes the brain activity of lovers visible
As part of their study, US scientists investigated ten women and seven men who were married for an average of 21 years and still said they were deeply in love with their partner. While showing the subjects photos of the faces of their acquaintances, good friends and life partners, the US researchers using functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the activity in the different brain areas visible and recorded. The data obtained were then compared with the results of an earlier equally structured study on the brain activity of freshly-loved humans. Their study has the scientists in the current issue of the journal „Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience“ released.

Researchers prove lifelong love through brain activity
The reaction to be recognized by the subjects on the images shown with the help of MRI „many very similarities between those who have been in love for a long time and those who have just fallen in love with each other like crazy“ shown, Arthur Aron explained. The expert bases his statement on the measured activities in the brain areas of the reward system controlled by the brain messenger dopamine and in the so-called basal ganglia, which are also related to reward and motivation. The US scientists emphasized that in these brain areas, the activity was significantly higher when subjects were shown pictures of their partners instead of photos of friends and acquaintances. Dopamine-rich brain regions were particularly active in both fresh and old people, said the US researchers.

Increased activity in numerous brain regions
Arthur Aron explained that the dopamine-rich brain regions „Interestingly, (...) showed the strongest activity among those of the long-term couple (who showed) in our questionnaire many points on questions of romantic love and closeness to the partner.“ In addition, signals were found in brain regions of the long-term lovers, which were already in previous studies associated with intense, fundamental relationships and bonds, the US researchers said. For example, significantly increased activities have been measured in brain regions involved in mother-child attachment, according to US psychologists.

Happiness hormones: Reward system is activated by love
The researchers assume that the sustained release of the so-called happiness hormone dopamine in a happy, long-lasting relationship permanently preserves the reward character. Over the years, partnering with the partner causes a relatively constant activity in the reward center of the brain and gives the old-time lovers a sense of well-being that is comparable to the fresh-loving, explained Bianca Acevedo and Arthur Aron. However, other areas of the brain that are responsible for basic attachment and trusting affection seem to be involved in this enduring sense of well-being and the preservation of romantic love, according to the US researchers' conclusion on their current study. (Fp)