Your Brain’s Reaction to Love Varies—It All Depends on Who You Are Thinking About
Humans experience different kinds of love, whether parental, platonic, romantic, or even a love of nature.
A new study from Aalta University in Finland mapped what areas of the brain responded when participants were asked to visualize a particular kind of love.
The study showed that interpersonal love highlighted the social areas of the brain while a love of nature stimulated the reward and visual centers of the brain.
What is love? It’s a question that’s been explored by 1590s playwrights and 1990s pop songs in equal measure.
Now, a new study from the Aalto University in Finland decided to approach the question more directly. While being observed by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machines, 55 parents (described as being in loving relationships) were given various scenarios describing a certain kind of love, whether familial, sexual, platonic, or simply a love for nature. For example, these two phrases were used for parental love and love for a pet, respectively:
“You see your newborn child for the first time. The baby is soft, healthy and hearty — your life’s greatest wonder. You feel love for the little one.”
“You are home lolling on the couch and your pet cat pads over to you. The cat curls up next to you and purrs sleepily. You love your pet.”
The researchers then used “neutral” scenarios, such as imagining staring out a bus window or brushing your teeth, as a control when examining the love-filled brain excitations.
The resulting images showed how different types of love—six of them in this particular experiment (romantic, parental, friendship, stranger, pet, and nature)—“lit up” certain areas of the brain compared to others. The results of the study were published in the journal Cerebral Cortex.
“We now provide a more comprehensive picture of the brain activity associated with different types of love than previous research,” Aalto University’s Pärttyli Rinne, lead author of the study, said in a press statement. “The activation pattern of love is generated in social situations in the basal ganglia, the midline of the forehead, the precuneus and the temporoparietal junction at the sides of the back of the head.”
Not exactly Shakespeare, but an interesting observation nonetheless.
The study found that certain types of love activated certain areas of the brain. Some of these insights weren’t all that surprising. For example, the reaction of love for a complete stranger activated less areas of the brain than those associated with a close relationship. But all love types related to interpersonal relationships (even strangers) excited social areas of the brain compared to a “love of nature,” which activated only the reward and visual systems of the brain.
One of the most “aww” worthy findings in the study was a close examination of the love of pets as scientists could clearly see whether some participants actually had a furry friend in the family or if the person was only imagining such a scenario.
“When looking at love for pets and the brain activity associated with it,” Rinne said in a press statement, “brain areas associated with sociality statistically reveal whether or not the person is a pet owner. When it comes to pet owners, these areas are more activated than with non-pet owners.”
That’s because nothing comes between a cat fam and their kitten.
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