Love scrambles the brain — and scientists can tell us why
It is well known that romantic love changes the brain, releasing the hormone oxytocin — which is responsible for the euphoria we feel when falling in love. Now, researchers from the Australian National University (ANU), the University of Canberra and the University of South Australia (UniSA) have measured how a part of the brain is responsible for putting our loved one on a pedestal in that first flush of romance.
The researchers conducted what is understood to be the world’s first study investigating the link between the human brain’s behavioural activation system (BAS) and romantic love, by surveying 1556 young adults who identified as being ‘in love’. The survey questions focused on the emotional reaction to their partner, their behaviour around them and the focus they placed on their loved one above all else.
The results of the study, published in the journal Behavioural Sciences, show that when we are in love, our brain reacts differently, making the object of our affections the centre of our lives. As noted by University of Canberra academic and UniSA Adjunct Associate Professor Dr Phil Kavanagh, the study found that romantic love is linked to changes in behaviour as well as emotion.
“We know the role that oxytocin plays in romantic love, because we get waves of it circulating throughout our nervous system and bloodstream when we interact with loved ones,” Kavanagh said.
“The way that loved ones take on special importance, however, is due to oxytocin combining with dopamine, a chemical that our brain releases during romantic love. Essentially, love activates pathways in the brain associated with positive feelings.”
ANU lead researcher and PhD student Adam Bode said the study sheds further light on the mechanisms that cause romantic love, which is understood to have first emerged “some five million years ago after we split from our ancestors, the great apes”.
“We actually know very little about the evolution of romantic love,” Bode continued. “As a result, every finding that tells us about romantic love’s evolution is an important piece of the puzzle that’s just been started.”
The next stage of the research involves investigating the differences between men and women in their approach to love and a worldwide survey identifying four different types of romantic lovers.
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