I love what Einstein said about this :
" How on earth are you ever going to
explain in terms of chemistry and
physics so important a biological
phenomenon as first love?"
Well , there are a number of studies in
which subjects in love were asked to
lie inside a fMRI machine and gaze at
a picture of their beloved. In brief ,
here 's what researchers found from
the brain scans: the ventral tegmental
area ( VTA) is activated ; this produces
the "feel -good " hormone dopamine,
which targets the reward areas of the
caudate nucleus and nucleus
accumbens . It 's a high , and it' s
addictive . Bonding is aided and
abetted by such hormones as
oxytocin and vasopressin. The
obsessive fixation many of us get
when we first fall in love -- can 't stop
thinking about him or her -- is due to
low serotonin levels .
Meanwhile , the prefrontal cortex, the
part of the brain responsible for
reasoning , and the amygdala, related
to fear, are deactivated -- which
explains why a lot of us become
reckless fools in love. If a woman in
love remembers more details than
men do , it 's because there 's more
activity in the female hippocampus,
the region associated with memory .
And it seems true that when it comes
to love men are more visual than
women are -- guys show more activity
in their visual cortex.
When two people fall in love , they
form a neural pattern of associations
and rewards that are strengthened
over time and with use . Researchers
call this a "love -related " network, and
there ' s some evidence that people in
close relationships , when reminded of
their love, perform better on mental
tasks .
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