This one specific brain area was smaller in participants who were in love

By Christian Jarrett Poets have long described the mind-altering effects of a passionate relationship – “my love’s a noble madness” wrote John Dryden. “Of all the emotions,” said Cicero, “there is none more violent than love. Love is a madness.” Psychology research is beginning to back this up. A recent study found that students in the early days of a passionate relationship exhibited reduced cognitive control in basic psychological tests. Now brain researchers in Japan have started to look for the neural correlates of these effects. Writing in Frontiers in Psychology, Hiroaki Kawamichi and his colleagues report the results of their brain imaging experiment showing that participants in the relatively early stages of a romantic relationship had reduced grey matter in a region of the brain involved in processing reward, which might suggest their brains had adjusted to the intensity of their love affair. The researchers recruited  56 young men and women who were currently in a romantic relationship of at least one month’s duration (the average length was 17 months), and for comparison they recruited 57 age-matched control participants who were not currently in a relationship. All the participants completed a happiness survey and also underwent a structural brain scan. The participants in an early-stage romantic relationship were happier than those who were single. And looking across the entire brain, the researchers...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Brain Emotion Sex Social Source Type: blogs