June
20, 2012 in
Psychology & Psychiatry Thanks to modern science, we know that love lives
in the brain, not in the heart. But where in the brain is it – and is it in the
same place as sexual desire? A recent international study is the first to draw
an exact map of these intimately linked feelings. "No one has ever put
these two together to see the patterns of activation," says Jim Pfaus,
professor of psychology at Concordia
University . "We
didn't know what to expect – the two could have ended up being completely
separate. It turns out that love and desire activate specific but related areas
in the brain." Along with colleagues in the USA
and Switzerland ,
Pfaus analyzed the results from 20 separate studies that examined brain
activity while subjects engaged in tasks such as viewing erotic pictures or
looking at photographs of their significant others. By pooling this data, the
scientists were able to form a complete map of love and desire in the brain. They
found that that two brain structures in particular, the insula and the
striatum, are responsible for tracking the progression from sexual desire to
love. The insula is a portion of the cerebral cortex folded deep within an area
between the temporal lobe and the frontal lobe, while the striatum is located
nearby, inside the forebrain. Love and sexual desire activate different areas
of the striatum. The area activated by sexual desire is usually activated by
things that are inherently pleasurable, such as sex or food. The area activated
by love is involved in the process of conditioning by which things paired with
reward or pleasure are given inherent value That is, as feelings of sexual
desire develop into love, they are processed in a different place in the
striatum. Somewhat surprisingly, this area of the striatum is also the part of
the brain that associated with drug addiction. Pfaus explains there is good
reason for this. "Love is actually a habit that is formed from sexual
desire as desire is rewarded. It works the same way in the brain as when people
become addicted to drugs." While love may be a habit, it's not necessarily
a bad one. Love activates different pathways in the brain that are involved in
monogamy and in pair bonding. Some areas in the brain are actually less active
when a person feels love than when they feel desire. "While sexual desire
has a very specific goal, love is more abstract and complex, so it's less
dependent on the physical presence someone else," says Pfaus. According to
Pfaus, cognitive neuroscience has given researchers a deep understanding of
where intelligence and problem solving sit in the brain, but there is still a
lot to discover when it comes to love. "I see this paper as a
cornerstone," he says, "in what I hope will turn into more studies in
human social neuroscience that can give us an idea of where love is in the
brain." Provided by Concordia
University
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