2024-08-26 17:19:00
Research shows where love is in the brain
Research conducted by Aalto University shows through pictures how love for children generates the strongest brain activity, followed closely by love.
According to research, mental activity is affected not only by the proximity of the object of love, but whether it is a person, another creature or nature. As expected, loving kindness toward strangers is less rewarding and causes less brain activity than loving in close relationships. For its part, love of nature activates the reward system and the visual areas of the brain, but not the social areas of the brain.
The biggest surprise for the researchers is that the brain regions associated with love between people turned out to be similar, with the differences lying mainly in the activation energy. All types of psychologically activated self-love are associated with social intelligence, unlike love for pets or nature, with one exception.
By looking at the love of pets and the brain activity associated with it, brain areas associated with sociability statistically reveal whether or not a person has a pet. For pet owners, these areas work more than for non-pet owners.
In the study, emotional reactions were controlled with neutral stories in which a lot happened. Not only does understanding the neural mechanisms of love help guide scientific debates about the nature of love, psychology, and human connection, but researchers hope their work will improve mental health in conditions such as sleep deprivation, depression or relationship problems.
The complete study is published in the journal Cerebral Cortex.
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