Science Probes Where Love Lives in the Brain

Researchers now have a better idea where love resides in the human brain — and which types of love are the most powerful.

MRI scans show that love mainly resides in areas of the brain associated with the processing of social cues, researchers reported Aug. 26 in the journal Cerebral Cortex.

Love for one’s children generated the most intense brain activity — so intense that it actually bled over into other parts of the brain, researchers found.

“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,” said researcher Parttyli Rinne, at Aalto University in Finland.

Romantic love also generated lots of brain activity, but that activity confined itself to the social regions of the brain, researchers found.

Love of nature and animals activated the reward system and visual areas of the brain, but not the social regions involved in love of other humans.

“We now provide a more comprehensive picture of the brain activity associated with different types of love than previous research,” Rinne said in a university news release.

For the study, researchers asked 55 parents involved in loving relationships to mull over brief stories related to six different types of love.

“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,” one story read.

“You are home lolling on the couch and your pet cat pads over to you. The cat curls up next to you and purrs sleepily. You love your pet,” read another.

Responses to these stories were compared to responses for neutral stories in which very little happened, such as looking out a bus window or absent-mindedly brushing teeth.

Researchers were most surprised to learn that brain areas associated with love between people ended up being very similar.

Differences primarily involved the intensity of the activation. For example, compassionate love for strangers was less rewarding and caused less brain activation than the love involved in close relationships, researchers said.

In general, abstract notions of nature and animals didn’t strike the same chords of love — with one notable exception.

Pet owners had the social areas of the brain that normally are reserved for human affection light up when they were asked to consider their furry friends, results show.

“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,” Rinne said. “When it comes to the pet owners, these areas are more activated than with non-pet owners.”

More information

The Society of Neuroscience has more about the anatomy of emotions.

SOURCE: Aalto University, news release, Aug. 26, 2024