The Fieldston Science Bulletin

By:Cristina Ellis

Most people are in love with the idea of falling in love. Romance is omnipresent in our culture, present in songs, movies, and books. Even in sporting venues, which aren’t traditionally associated with love, you can still find traces of it, such as the kiss cam. Despite these seemingly endless portrayals of romance, the physiological effects associated with falling in love are not as widely known. What makes us feel and act as we do? Science has answers. 

Although the heart is a symbol of Valentine’s Day, feelings of love have nothing to do with the heart but rather the brain. When one “falls in love,” a series of complex mechanisms in the brain are triggered, involving multiple chemicals and hormones. The brain’s reward circuit, also known as the mesolimbic system, is activated.  This group of neural structures is responsible for pleasure, motivation, and reinforcing behaviors that make us feel good.

During the initial stages of romantic love, levels of the stress hormone cortisol

increase, and the neurotransmitter serotonin becomes depleted. Low levels of serotonin cause behaviors associated with infatuation, such as causing one to become preoccupied with thoughts of one’s loved one. At the same time, levels of dopamine (the “feel good hormone”) increase as the mesolimbic system associates the sensation of falling in love with happiness, stimulating the release of dopamine, which makes one want to spend more time with their loved one because it makes one feel good.

Oxytocin and vasopressin also play a role. Oxytocin (the “love hormone”) provokes feelings of contentment, calmness, and security. Vasopressin is linked to behavior that produces long-term, monogamous relationships. Falling in love also deactivates the neural pathway associated with making critical assessments of other people, which is why they say “love is blind”.

Love is thought of as being spiritual and poetic, but the sensations we feel are actually rooted in physiological phenomena.  Next time you flip on the TV and see a rom-com, you’ll know the science behind what is going on in people’s heads.

Sources:

https://hms.harvard.edu/news-events/publications-archive/brain/love-brain

https://www.georgetown.edu/news/the-neuroscience-of-love-whats-going-on-in-the-lovestruck-brain/

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