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FEBS Letters Jun 2007Romantic and maternal love are highly rewarding experiences. Both are linked to the perpetuation of the species and therefore have a closely linked biological function... (Review)
Review
Romantic and maternal love are highly rewarding experiences. Both are linked to the perpetuation of the species and therefore have a closely linked biological function of crucial evolutionary importance. The newly developed ability to study the neural correlates of subjective mental states with brain imaging techniques has allowed neurobiologists to learn something about the neural bases of both romantic and maternal love. Both types of attachment activate regions specific to each, as well as overlapping regions in the brain's reward system that coincide with areas rich in oxytocin and vasopressin receptors. Both deactivate a common set of regions associated with negative emotions, social judgment and 'mentalizing' that is, the assessment of other people's intentions and emotions. Human attachment seems therefore to employ a push-pull mechanism that overcomes social distance by deactivating networks used for critical social assessment and negative emotions, while it bonds individuals through the involvement of the reward circuitry, explaining the power of love to motivate and exhilarate. Yet the biological study of love, and especially romantic love, must go beyond and look for biological insights that can be derived from studying the world literature of love, and thus bring the output of the humanities into its orbit.
Topics: Beauty; Brain; Brain Chemistry; Humans; Love; Neurobiology
PubMed: 17531984
DOI: 10.1016/j.febslet.2007.03.094 -
International Journal of Environmental... Feb 2023This is a narrative review addressing the topic of romantic infidelity, its causes and its consequences. Love is commonly a source of much pleasure and fulfillment.... (Review)
Review
This is a narrative review addressing the topic of romantic infidelity, its causes and its consequences. Love is commonly a source of much pleasure and fulfillment. However, as this review points out, it can also cause stress, heartache and may even be traumatic in some circumstances. Infidelity, which is relatively common in Western culture, can damage a loving, romantic relationship to the point of its demise. However, by highlighting this phenomenon, its causes and its consequences, we hope to provide useful insight for both researchers and clinicians who may be assisting couples facing these issues. We begin by defining infidelity and illustrating the various ways in which one may become unfaithful to their partner. We explore the personal and relational factors that enhance an individual's tendency to betray their partner, the various reactions related to a discovered affair and the challenges related to the nosological categorization of infidelity-based trauma, and conclude by reviewing the effects of COVID-19 on unfaithful behavior, as well as clinical implications related to infidelity-based treatment. Ultimately, we hope to provide a road map, for academicians and clinicians alike, of what some couples may experience in their relationships and how can they be helped.
Topics: Humans; Love; COVID-19; Marriage; Causality; Personal Satisfaction; Interpersonal Relations
PubMed: 36900915
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20053904 -
NeuroImage Mar 2004Romantic and maternal love are highly rewarding experiences. Both are linked to the perpetuation of the species and therefore have a closely linked biological function... (Clinical Trial)
Clinical Trial
Romantic and maternal love are highly rewarding experiences. Both are linked to the perpetuation of the species and therefore have a closely linked biological function of crucial evolutionary importance. Yet almost nothing is known about their neural correlates in the human. We therefore used fMRI to measure brain activity in mothers while they viewed pictures of their own and of acquainted children, and of their best friend and of acquainted adults as additional controls. The activity specific to maternal attachment was compared to that associated to romantic love described in our earlier study and to the distribution of attachment-mediating neurohormones established by other studies. Both types of attachment activated regions specific to each, as well as overlapping regions in the brain's reward system that coincide with areas rich in oxytocin and vasopressin receptors. Both deactivated a common set of regions associated with negative emotions, social judgment and 'mentalizing', that is, the assessment of other people's intentions and emotions. We conclude that human attachment employs a push-pull mechanism that overcomes social distance by deactivating networks used for critical social assessment and negative emotions, while it bonds individuals through the involvement of the reward circuitry, explaining the power of love to motivate and exhilarate.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Brain; Brain Chemistry; Brain Mapping; Child; Child, Preschool; Data Interpretation, Statistical; Face; Female; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Infant; Love; Maternal Behavior; Middle Aged; Nervous System Physiological Phenomena; Object Attachment; Receptors, Neurotransmitter; Reward; Social Perception
PubMed: 15006682
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2003.11.003 -
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal... Sep 2004The broaden-and-build theory describes the form and function of a subset of positive emotions, including joy, interest, contentment and love. A key proposition is that... (Review)
Review
The broaden-and-build theory describes the form and function of a subset of positive emotions, including joy, interest, contentment and love. A key proposition is that these positive emotions broaden an individual's momentary thought-action repertoire: joy sparks the urge to play, interest sparks the urge to explore, contentment sparks the urge to savour and integrate, and love sparks a recurring cycle of each of these urges within safe, close relationships. The broadened mindsets arising from these positive emotions are contrasted to the narrowed mindsets sparked by many negative emotions (i.e. specific action tendencies, such as attack or flee). A second key proposition concerns the consequences of these broadened mindsets: by broadening an individual's momentary thought-action repertoire--whether through play, exploration or similar activities--positive emotions promote discovery of novel and creative actions, ideas and social bonds, which in turn build that individual's personal resources; ranging from physical and intellectual resources, to social and psychological resources. Importantly, these resources function as reserves that can be drawn on later to improve the odds of successful coping and survival. This chapter reviews the latest empirical evidence supporting the broaden-and-build theory and draws out implications the theory holds for optimizing health and well-being.
Topics: Adaptation, Psychological; Attention; Happiness; Humans; Love; Models, Psychological; Motivation; Personal Satisfaction
PubMed: 15347528
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2004.1512 -
Social Cognitive and Affective... Feb 2012The present study examined the neural correlates of long-term intense romantic love using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Ten women and 7 men married an...
The present study examined the neural correlates of long-term intense romantic love using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Ten women and 7 men married an average of 21.4 years underwent fMRI while viewing facial images of their partner. Control images included a highly familiar acquaintance; a close, long-term friend; and a low-familiar person. Effects specific to the intensely loved, long-term partner were found in: (i) areas of the dopamine-rich reward and basal ganglia system, such as the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and dorsal striatum, consistent with results from early-stage romantic love studies; and (ii) several regions implicated in maternal attachment, such as the globus pallidus (GP), substantia nigra, Raphe nucleus, thalamus, insular cortex, anterior cingulate and posterior cingulate. Correlations of neural activity in regions of interest with widely used questionnaires showed: (i) VTA and caudate responses correlated with romantic love scores and inclusion of other in the self; (ii) GP responses correlated with friendship-based love scores; (iii) hypothalamus and posterior hippocampus responses correlated with sexual frequency; and (iv) caudate, septum/fornix, posterior cingulate and posterior hippocampus responses correlated with obsession. Overall, results suggest that for some individuals the reward-value associated with a long-term partner may be sustained, similar to new love, but also involves brain systems implicated in attachment and pair-bonding.
Topics: Adult; Aged; Brain; Brain Mapping; Dopamine; Emotions; Female; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Love; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Middle Aged; Motivation; Obsessive Behavior; Reward; Sexual Behavior; Ventral Tegmental Area
PubMed: 21208991
DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsq092 -
Psychiatria Danubina Sep 2021Thus, having become very famous in the cities of Aonia, the one (Tiresias) gave irrefutable responses to those who consulted him. The first to test the authenticity of...
Thus, having become very famous in the cities of Aonia, the one (Tiresias) gave irrefutable responses to those who consulted him. The first to test the authenticity of his words was the blue Lirìope, whom Cefiso had one day pushed into a bend in his current, imprisoned in the waves and raped. When she got pregnant, the beautiful nymph gave birth to a child who aroused love from birth, and called him Narcissus. Asked if the little boy would see the distant days of late old age, the soothsayer replied: "If he doesn't know himself." For a long time the prediction seemed meaningless, but then the outcome of things, the type of death and the strange passion confirmed it. from "The Metamorphosis" (Ovidio).
Topics: Child; Female; Humans; Love; Male; Narcissism
PubMed: 34559776
DOI: No ID Found -
Journal of Prosthodontic Research 2023
Topics: Love; Leadership
PubMed: 37045756
DOI: 10.2186/jpr.JPR_D_23_00065 -
Journal of Prosthodontic Research 2023
Topics: Love; Leadership
PubMed: 36624065
DOI: 10.2186/jpr.JPR_D_22_00286 -
Journal of Neurophysiology Jul 2010Romantic rejection causes a profound sense of loss and negative affect. It can induce clinical depression and in extreme cases lead to suicide and/or homicide. To begin...
Romantic rejection causes a profound sense of loss and negative affect. It can induce clinical depression and in extreme cases lead to suicide and/or homicide. To begin to identify the neural systems associated with this natural loss state, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to study 10 women and 5 men who had recently been rejected by a partner but reported they were still intensely "in love." Participants alternately viewed a photograph of their rejecting beloved and a photograph of a familiar, individual, interspersed with a distraction-attention task. Their responses while looking at their rejecter included love, despair, good, and bad memories, and wondering why this happened. Activation specific to the image of the beloved occurred in areas associated with gains and losses, craving and emotion regulation and included the ventral tegmental area (VTA) bilaterally, ventral striatum, medial and lateral orbitofrontal/prefrontal cortex, and cingulate gyrus. Compared with data from happily-in-love individuals, the regional VTA activation suggests that mesolimbic reward/survival systems are involved in romantic passion regardless of whether one is happily or unhappily in love. Forebrain activations associated with motivational relevance, gain/loss, cocaine craving, addiction, and emotion regulation suggest that higher-order systems subject to experience and learning also may mediate the rejection reaction. The results show activation of reward systems, previously identified by monetary stimuli, in a natural, endogenous, negative emotion state. Activation of areas involved in cocaine addiction may help explain the obsessive behaviors associated with rejection in love.
Topics: Adolescent; Behavior, Addictive; Brain; Brain Mapping; Emotions; Female; Grief; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Love; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Obsessive Behavior; Pair Bond; Photic Stimulation; Rejection, Psychology; Reward; Time Factors; Young Adult
PubMed: 20445032
DOI: 10.1152/jn.00784.2009 -
Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 2023This article explains and critiques the protection of love within judgments concerning relationships under the Human Rights Act 1998. Using theory of emotion to conduct...
This article explains and critiques the protection of love within judgments concerning relationships under the Human Rights Act 1998. Using theory of emotion to conduct doctrinal analysis of the protection of love within international human rights laws and under the Human Rights Act 1998, it reveals a shift in the conception of love underlying the domestic judicial application of huamn rights. Whereas previously the law was underpinned by values of duty and property, judgments concerning relationships now protect the capacity of individuals to choose how to live. However, the protection of this modern conception of love is limited by judicial deference, allowing the values underpinning the historical conception of love to continue to influence the law.
PubMed: 37287902
DOI: 10.1093/ojls/gqac034