Likewise, oxytocin and vasopressin play a role in falling in love. Infatuation has also been associated with nerve growth factors which correlate with the intensity of romantic feelings. It seems that, under the influence of Cupid, we spend a lot of time thinking about the object of our affection, in much the same way as the obsessive can’t stop thinking about what generates their anxiety. In fact, serotonin depletion during falling in love is similar to that experienced by OCD patients. The release of this substance makes us feel good and its increase is combined with the reduction of serotonin. They’re involved in reward, desire, addiction, and euphoria.

Many of the brain regions that are activated when we fall in love are coextensive with those that have high concentrations of neuromodulators, such as dopamine. They included parts of the right prefrontal cortex, the bilateral parietal cortex, and the temporal cortices. However, there were also some that appeared to be deactivated. These were the medial insula, the anterior cingulate cortex, and segments of the dorsal striatum. In one study, it was found that when participants looked at the face of the person they were in love with, specific areas of their brains were activated. The cortex, the median insula, the anterior cingulate, the hippocampus, parts of the striatum, and the nucleus accumbens are all involved in love. In this article, we’ll review six theories of love to understand it better.

It usually occurs in the early stages of a relationship and can develop into more lasting love. Why do we fall in love? Why do some forms of love last while others don’t? Psychologists and researchers in fields such as biology, sociology, and philosophy, have proposed various theories of love to explain how and why we fall in love.įalling in love involves intense feelings of attraction, with no sense of commitment.

The hypothesis of love