Scientists have discovered the forms of love that activate different parts of the brain and the results are very intriguing.
Love is an emotion that comes in many forms, whether it be for a romantic partner, a platonic friend or a family member .
Experts have been scanning brains and using imagery to determine the ways different forms of love trigger the brain.
As part of the study published in the Cerebral Cortex journal, 55 parents who self-described as being in a loving relationship had the statement, “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” presented to them.
As the audio statement was played, researchers from Aalto University in Finland used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure the participants’ brain activity.
In total, the participants were presented with brief stories linked to six different types of love – including that for their children, romantic partners, friends, strangers, pets and nature.
The researchers found that the activity in the brain was influenced by how close the object of love was, and by the species.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the results found that love for their children induced the most amount of brain activity, followed by romantic love.
Pärttyli Rinne, the philosopher and researcher who coordinated the study, explained: “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.”
Researchers were surprised to learn that, on the whole, the brain areas associated with love between people were very similar, but differed mainly in intensity.
The main difference came when researchers examined the brain activity during the statement about pets. Based on the results, they were pretty accurately able to determine which participant was a pet owner.
Rinne explained: “When looking at love for pets and the brain activity associated with it, brain areas associated with sociality statistically reveal whether or not the person is a pet owner. When it comes to the pet owners, these areas are more activated than with non-pet owners.”
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