Love is one of the human emotions that is often eulogized to the extent of raising it to divinity! Not that animals don’t exhibit this emotion. But they probably don’t believe in God as we do 😉
The most prominent among these emotions are the maternal love of a mother to her children and the romantic feelings of a person to his/her mate. These emotions are often glorified and considered to be the finest of human emotions.
These are also the emotions essential for the most basic aspect of existence, namely procreation and upkeep of the progeny.
Love results in procreation and it is this love that helps in taking care of the baby. Both are needed for the life to go on.
Scientists have been looking for mechanisms in the brain that correspond to these emotions. Several experiments have been conducted to see which regions of the brain act to produce the effect that we refer to as love.
In one such experiment a group of mothers were asked to view the pictures of their kids as well as the pictures of some other kids, either known to them or totally strangers. Scientists scanned their brains using MRI scanners to see what was happening inside their brain while they were viewing these pictures.
Scientists observed that when these mothers viewed the pictures of their own kids, distinct areas of their brain were activated correlating with the emotion they experienced. But not all these areas were activated when they viewed the pictures of other kids who are not their own.
Similarly, when pictures of one’s mate were shown, the regions of the brain that got activated were different from those when the person was viewing the picture of some acquaintance or a stranger.
Scientists have identified two neuro-hormones vasopressin and oxytocin that are involved in the formation and maintenance of attachment between individuals. Several studies on rodents and primates have confirmed that there exists a tight coupling between attachment processes and the neural systems for reward.
Reward systems are those brain structures that produce certain chemicals to soothe the brain when some favorable incidents happen. This motivates the animal to indulge in that activity more and more since it gets a ‘reward’ for that.
Interestingly, the same neuro-hormones are involved in the attachment between mother and child, and in the long-term romantic bonding between adults. However, the exact brain regions that respond to these hormones may differ to some extent depending on the type of love – parental or romantic.
By and large, they activate almost similar areas. This is probably obvious given the fact that both are evolutionary mechanisms involved in procreation and upbringing of the progeny.
But how are the scientists sure that these hormones are indeed the cause? They could as well have been just a side effect of some emotion?
What scientists did to confirm that these hormones indeed were responsible for the emotions was something like this. They used some other chemicals on these regions to neutralize the effect of those hormones! That means that the hormones were produced, but they are rendered ineffective by some other chemicals which neutralize their effect. So, the net effect on these regions was nothing.
For example, rats in which corresponding regions were treated in this manner showed no maternal love for their young ones, which would have been there otherwise.
This procedure clearly showed that it was these hormones that were the cause of these emotions.
What is further interesting is that along with the activation of some reward regions, some other brain regions that are normally involved in negative judgment are deactivated during these emotions. So, a person in ‘love’ - whether maternal or romantic, tends to ignore the shortcomings of the beloved.
Further interesting observation was that brain regions that are involved in making judgments about social reaction, also get suppressed. So, these emotions work with a dual mechanism of ‘reward for the emotion’ and ‘ignore the consequences’.
Probably that is what makes the ‘love’ blind!
Love results in procreation and it is this love that helps in taking care of the baby. Both are needed for the life to go on.
Scientists have been looking for mechanisms in the brain that correspond to these emotions. Several experiments have been conducted to see which regions of the brain act to produce the effect that we refer to as love.
In one such experiment a group of mothers were asked to view the pictures of their kids as well as the pictures of some other kids, either known to them or totally strangers. Scientists scanned their brains using MRI scanners to see what was happening inside their brain while they were viewing these pictures.
Scientists observed that when these mothers viewed the pictures of their own kids, distinct areas of their brain were activated correlating with the emotion they experienced. But not all these areas were activated when they viewed the pictures of other kids who are not their own.
Similarly, when pictures of one’s mate were shown, the regions of the brain that got activated were different from those when the person was viewing the picture of some acquaintance or a stranger.
Scientists have identified two neuro-hormones vasopressin and oxytocin that are involved in the formation and maintenance of attachment between individuals. Several studies on rodents and primates have confirmed that there exists a tight coupling between attachment processes and the neural systems for reward.
Reward systems are those brain structures that produce certain chemicals to soothe the brain when some favorable incidents happen. This motivates the animal to indulge in that activity more and more since it gets a ‘reward’ for that.
Interestingly, the same neuro-hormones are involved in the attachment between mother and child, and in the long-term romantic bonding between adults. However, the exact brain regions that respond to these hormones may differ to some extent depending on the type of love – parental or romantic.
By and large, they activate almost similar areas. This is probably obvious given the fact that both are evolutionary mechanisms involved in procreation and upbringing of the progeny.
But how are the scientists sure that these hormones are indeed the cause? They could as well have been just a side effect of some emotion?
What scientists did to confirm that these hormones indeed were responsible for the emotions was something like this. They used some other chemicals on these regions to neutralize the effect of those hormones! That means that the hormones were produced, but they are rendered ineffective by some other chemicals which neutralize their effect. So, the net effect on these regions was nothing.
For example, rats in which corresponding regions were treated in this manner showed no maternal love for their young ones, which would have been there otherwise.
This procedure clearly showed that it was these hormones that were the cause of these emotions.
What is further interesting is that along with the activation of some reward regions, some other brain regions that are normally involved in negative judgment are deactivated during these emotions. So, a person in ‘love’ - whether maternal or romantic, tends to ignore the shortcomings of the beloved.
Further interesting observation was that brain regions that are involved in making judgments about social reaction, also get suppressed. So, these emotions work with a dual mechanism of ‘reward for the emotion’ and ‘ignore the consequences’.
Probably that is what makes the ‘love’ blind!
A series revolving around Mind – Science of Mind, Philosophy of Mind, Notions of reality, Mind modulation, Domains beyond Mind, and so on. © Dr. King 2019
How about the love between friends, family and various other things? For instance your love for creating awareness about various subjects,by blogging! What kind of love is that? What a complex topic!��all said and done ,love still brings about good actions! ��
ReplyDeleteMy love is not at animal level. It is not even at human level. So, all this research does not apply ;-)
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