What Neuroscience Says: 7 Things That Happen In Your Brain When You Fall In Love

The process of falling in love has been a phenomenon since the beginning of the human race. Love can be found in songs, poems, books; people will die for love. Anthropologists that have studied romantic love have found it in 170 different societies; they have yet to find one with out it. All around the world people are falling in and out of love. As Helen Fisher has said, love is one of the most powerful sensations on earth. But what exactly happens when you fall in love? Here are seven facts that neuroscience can tell us about the brain in love.

1. There is a large increase in activity across the brain, specifically in areas associated with dopamine (the happy hormone) and oxytocin (the love hormone)

In a study done recently, several individuals were divided into three groups placed in an fMRI machine, and the activity of their brains were measured. The groups consisted of an "in-love" group, a "recently ended love" group, and a "never fallen in love" group. (Song, Hongwen et al., 2015). Data was collected on the regional homogeneity of each individual's brain, discovering that the RH of the "in-love" group was largely increased in comparison with the other groups. The areas that were found to be more active included the ventral tegmental area (VTA), the medial insula, the nucleus accumbens (NAC), the caudate nucleus and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). In a similar study in 2000, Bartels and Zeki found the caudate nucleus and putamen were activated in brains that were "in-love". In Helen Fisher's study (Fisher et al., 2008), it was found that the VTA was highly active, as well as A10 cells. Yet another study found there to be activation in the VTA, the postero-dorsal body and the caudate nucleus, (Aron, Fisher, et Brown, 2006).

So, the major regions that are more active when individuals were "in-love" included the VTA, the NAC, the caudate nucleus and the ACC. The VTA is the region in which dopamine cells are found, and it is associated with the high one receives while taking certain drugs and narcotics, as well as motivation and intense emotions. The NAC coincides with cortical areas in dopamine and oxytocin receptors, and it plays an important roll in the visual perception of pleasant stimuli. The caudate nucleus plays a role in reward detection and expectation, the representation of goals and the integration of sensory inputs to prepare for action. The ACC is involved in some autonomic functions, such as heart rate, as well as some cognitive functions such as reward anticipation and emotion.

2. Not only do brain regions become more active, but the connections between certain regions also become more active.

In some of the same studies mentioned above, functional connectivity was also shown to increase in certain areas. Mainly, there was increased FC between subcortical regions that are closely related to ones dopamine system. These include between the caudate nucleus, the NAC, the amygdala and the insula. It has been suggested that this increase in FC, specifically between the amygdala and the insula, is associated with secretion of hormones such as oxytocin and vasopressin, both of which have been shown to be crucially involved in romantic love and bonding. Oxytocin is released during sexual activity and mating, in most mammals. There was also increase seen in FC networks associated with the emotion regulation network, and the social cognition network.

So, the increase in functional connectivity shows the connection between falling in love and the dopamine system, which is known to play a roll in reward-motivated behavior. Most types of reward increase the level of dopamine in the brain. The association with increase in FC to social cognition network and emotional regulation network implies that falling in love may change that function and functional make-up of ones reward, motivation and emotion regulation brain network.

3. The deactivation of some brain regions causes recklessness

In the studies described before, the amygdala was found to be less active in the brains of those who were in love compared to those who were not. The amygdala is associated with processing information related to fear, sadness and aggression. Furthermore, the prefrontal cortex also experiences a decrease in activity when one falls in love. The prefrontal cortex, or PFC is the brain's center for reasoning, command and control.

The combination of decrease in activity of both of these regions leads to an increase in risk taking. Thus, those who are in love may be prone to recklessness, experience a decrease in fears as well as sadness. The decrease in activity in the PFC may be a source for the saying "crazy in love", because one may have less of a capacity for reasoning and control.

4. The alteration in one’s secretion of hormones causes love to be both obsessive and addictive

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A brain in love is shown to experience a drop in serotonin secretion. Serotonin provides a sense of being in control and guards against anxiety of uncertainty and instability. When levels of serotonin drop, ones sense of control decreases, and one may become obsessively fixated on certain things, in this case, on a certain person. Lastly, the brains of those who are in long-term love relationships have shown an increase in activity in the ventral pallidum, which is a region associated with oxytocin and vasopressin receptors that facilitate long-term pair bonding and attachment.

A brain is love also, as describe earlier, has increased activity in the VTA, which releases dopamine in the brain reward centers, the caudate nucleus and the NAC. This is very similar to the effects of cocaine and narcotics on the brain, and thus, like these drugs, love can be extremely addictive. There is also an increase in the stress hormone norepinephrine, which leads to physical effects such as an increased heart rate and blood pressure, which is also similar to the effects experienced by people who use addictive stimulants. Helen Fisher says that love is the most addictive substance on earth, and according to the brain, she is not wrong.

5. There are differences between the brains of men and women who are in love

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There have been some minor differences found between the “in-love” brain images of men and women. Men in love show greater activity in the visual cortex than women in love. Thus, they may be more visual stimulated than women in love. Women, however, show more activity in their hippocampus than men in love. The hippocampus is associated with memory, and thus this activation allows for women to remember the “little things”, while men have been described as “visual beasts”.

6. According to the brain, love is a state of motivation rather than an emotion

Psychologists define romantic love as a desire to enter or maintain a close relationship with a specific other person. Recent findings of the studies described earlier, however, suggest that the localization of romantic love within the subcortical reward, motivation and emotion systems in the human brain leads to the conclusion that love is a goal-directed drive with predictable effects of cognitive behavior rather than a pure emotion. Further, results of one of those studies suggests that love uses subcortical reward and motivation systems to focus on a specific individual, which suggests that there is strong motivation to win a specific mating partner. Thus, rather than defining love as an emotion, it can be defined as a motivation state in which one is motivated to be with an specific individual.

Interestingly, however, studies have also shown that one can be in lust with one person while in love with another. Both of these are addictive and affect the same parts of the brain, but over time the differences between the two become more significant.

7. Being dumped has affects that make it harder to let go

In her studies on the brain in love, Helen Fisher also looked at the brains of those who had been recently dumped from relationships with someone who they had admitted to being in love with. She found that the same regions that are active in the in love brain are still active in the recently dumped brain, which makes it harder to forget the person, and rather love them more. Further, the NAC seemed to become more active, which is associated with measuring ones gains and losses, as well as taking risks. There was activity in the brain regions that are associated with deep attachment to another individual, with the result that, as Fisher described, the brain circuit for reward is working and you are feeling intense energy, focus, motivation and willingness to risk it all for a mate, but these feelings go unanswered, making it harder to let go of the other individual.

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