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| From New Scientist http://www.newscientist.com/news/news_224636.html
So you think you're in love?
SOME say love is blind. Others say it defies explanation. But
two cognitive neurologists in Britain say that love is just a
specific type of brain activity.
Andreas Bartels and Semir Zeki at University College London used
a functional magnetic resonance imager to scan the brains of 17
volunteers who described themselves as "truly and madly" in love.
During the scans, each was shown pictures of their loved one,
or a friend of the same sex as their partner.
Seeing a lover prompted activity in four brain regions that were
not active when looking at pictures of a friend, and caused a
significant reduction in the activity of one other area. "We were
really struck by how clear-cut the activity was," says Bartels.
Two active areas lay deep in the cortex: the medial insula, which
may be responsible for "gut" feelings, and a part of the anterior
cingulate, which is known to respond to euphoria-inducing drugs.
Two lie in a deeper region known as the striatum, which is active
when we find experiences rewarding. The inactive region was in
the right prefrontal cortex--the region that is overactive in
depressed patients. |
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