Mapping love: Scientists reveals how love lights up different parts of human brain
London: Taking research on love to a whole new level, a team of scientists on Monday revealed that different types of love light up different parts of the brain.
Humans use the word ‘love’ in several ranges of contexts -- from sexual adoration to parental love or the love of nature. Now, more comprehensive imaging of the brain may shed light on why we use the same word for such a diverse collection of human experiences.
Researchers from Aalto University in Finland utilised functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure brain activity while subjects mulled brief stories related to six different types of love.
Parttyli Rinne, the philosopher and researcher who coordinated the study, said that 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.
"In parental love, there was activation deep in the brain's reward system in the striatum area while imagining love, and this was not seen for any other kind of love," Rinne noted.
Love for romantic partners, friends, strangers, pets and nature were also part of the study, which was published in the Cerebral Cortex journal, Oxford University Press.
The research found that brain activity is influenced not only by the closeness of the object of love, but also by whether it is a human being, another species or nature.
“Unsurprisingly, compassionate love for strangers was less rewarding and caused less brain activation than love in close relationships. Meanwhile, love of nature activated the reward system and visual areas of the brain, but not the social brain areas,” it noted.
A key surprise for the researchers was that the brain areas associated with love between people ended up being very similar, with differences lying primarily in the intensity of activation.
All types of interpersonal love activated areas of the brain associated with social cognition, in contrast to love for pets or nature — with one exception, the study noted.
Subjects' brain responses to a statement like the following, on average, revealed whether they shared their life with a furry friend:
'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.'
'When looking at love for pets and the brain activity associated with it, brain areas associated with sociality statistically reveal whether the person is a pet owner. When it comes to the pet owners, these areas are more activated than with non-pet owners,' says Rinne.
Love activations were controlled for in the study with neutral stories in which very little happened. For example, looking out the bus window or absent-mindedly brushing your teeth. After hearing a professional actor's rendition of each "love story," participants were asked to imagine each emotion for ten seconds.
This is not the first attempt by Rinne and his team, which includes researchers Juha Lahnakoski, Heini Saarimäki, Mikke Tavast, Mikko Sams, and Linda Henriksson, to explore the concept of love. The team has conducted several studies aimed at deepening our scientific understanding of human emotions. A year ago, they published research mapping the bodily experiences associated with love, with their earlier findings also highlighting a strong connection between the most intense physical experiences of love and close interpersonal relationships.
The researchers believe that understanding the neural mechanisms of love could contribute not only to philosophical discussions about the nature of love, consciousness, and human connection but also to improving mental health interventions. They hope their work will benefit conditions like attachment disorders, depression, and relationship issues.