Love has always been a mysterious subject, one of the most powerful experiences we have ever experienced. We often look for answers to our questions in classical literature such as poetry or philosophy, but for some time scientists have been concerned with doing a study of love and researching what happens in our brains when we fall in love.
Helen Fisher, one of the most prestigious anthropologists in the United States, is one of the scientists who has studied this topic the most, focusing on the biology of love and attraction, below are some results from her multiple studies and research.
- From his research.
- Fisher offers a tripartite vision of love that originates from three interconnected basic brain systems:.
? Does it come from the hypothalamus?Related to hunger and thirst? It awakens the desire to experiment with different people, to look for our partners.
? Romantic love. Does it come from the reptile brain, an area responsible for basic survival instincts, and it occurs when dopamine is released, it is linked to selective sexual attraction and sexual contact and exclusivity, which can be very dangerous because it generates a lot of joy if we are reciprocal or very sad, if we are rejected, in addition to the nature of possession.
? Attachment. Does it produce an activation of the pale ventral ?, related to the sense of taste and pleasure. As a form of affection, the emotional bond that sustains couples and goes beyond passion.
So Fisher made sure: some people have sex and fall in love; others may fall in love with someone with whom they have never had sex and with whom they have never had sex; some may feel a sense of attachment to a friend and years later see him with him. different eyes Does it all depend on the person ?. But all three brain systems are important because every couple should try to do romantic things, perform activities that increase the feeling of attachment, and try to have a good sex life.
In addition, based on tests performed on a sample of volunteers, it was found that the area activated by romantic love was far from the emotional part of the brain, which would later lead to affirming that love was not an emotion, quite the opposite. popular belief, considering it as a natural physiological impulse, similar to eating or drinking, existing because of the need to procreate, since the activated areas are those related to motivation, energy and attention, so it would be a motivation to transmit our genetics. material to the next generation, thus highlighting its evolutionary perspective.
Love is therefore based on studies conducted by Helen Fisher, an impulse that has been developed to enable the formation of couples.
Why do we love a particular person and are not attracted to others?
In fact, the answer to this question has not yet been discovered, if discovered, all we know is that cultural, chemical and genetic components are involved in attraction. Fisher even mentions that we fall in love with people who seem mysterious, whom we don’t know well. This touch of mystery often makes us live to continue discovering each other and surprise us.
In his research, Fisher observed in the images of the passionate brain two very active regions:
? The primitive caudado nucleus linked to the brain’s reward system, sexual arousal, feelings of pleasure and motivation for rewards, allows us to discern which activity will be most pleasant or predict how we will feel in certain circumstances.
-The ventral tegmental area?area in the brain trunk that is formed by dopamine pathways. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that controls attention, motivation and goal-achieving processes.
So, when we fall in love, it seems that we increase our dopamine and norepinephrine levels (which control the states of euphoria and loss of appetite and sleep) and decrease the amount of Serotonin in our body. This behavior is similar to addictive, processes, since these chemicals are naturally derived from opium.
Therefore, as passion progresses, some dependence begins to develop. Although relationships change and fluctuate later, as this state of “chemical dependence” does not last a lifetime.
Therefore, according to Fisher’s research, love would be like a cocktail of chemists and, although none of this changes the way we fall in love and the suffering we feel when a relationship ends, it helps us to know a little more about some of the supposed rules behind this great stranger called love.
Image courtesy of Miguel Nieto Galisteo