While reams of soppy poetry, plays, and love songs might beg to differ, scientists are always keen to point out that love is felt not in the heart – but in the brain.
Now, thanks to a new study from researchers at Aalto University, Finland, romantically inclined scientists can be even more precise.
From the romantic love for your partner to the love you feel for your dog, incredible maps reveal which regions of the brain are activated by different types of love.
While romantic love is felt strongly in the social regions of the brain, a parent’s love for their children produced the most powerful reaction of all.
Dr Pärttyli Rinne, a philosopher and researcher who led the study, says: ‘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.’
Researchers have mapped the activation of the brain while it experiences love, to reveal exactly where different types of love are felt. Pictured: The areas of the brain most frequently associated with interpersonal love
To see exactly where love was felt in the brain, the researchers recruited 55 parents who self-described as being in a loving relationship.
While in an fMRI machine, these participants were read a series of short stories, each describing a different type of love.
For example, to evoke a feeling of parental love, the participants were read: ‘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.’
To provide a base measurement for comparison, the participants were also given a few exceptionally dull neutral scenarios such as looking out of the bus window.
55 participants were placed in an fMRI scanner while they were read stories detailing different types of love. Pictured, the brain as it experiences romantic love
Researchers found that most interpersonal forms of love activate the same areas to different degrees, but the most intense of all was parental love
Parental love activates regions deep in the brain’s reward system, something seen in no other type of love (file image)
The participants were then left to sit for 10 seconds to imagine themselves in the scenario while the researchers took careful recordings of their brain states.
By combining the results of each of the participants, the researchers were able to create a map for six different types of love.
Dr Rinne has previously mapped out where in the body different types of love are felt, but this gives the first insight into the neurological processes behind the experience.
Most types of love involving people were found to activate similar areas of the brain’s social regions.
Dr Rinne says: ‘The activation pattern of love is generated in social situations in the basal ganglia, the midline of the forehead, the precuneus and the temporoparietal junction at the sides of the back of the head.’
The main difference between types of love was the intensity of the brain activation they triggered.
Romantic love, as well as other interpersonal forms of love, tend to be felt in the basal ganglia, midline of the forehead, and in the back and sides of the head. Pictured: Crazy Stupid Love
The better we know someone, the greater the activation in the regions of the brain associated with social activity. Pictured: the brain activation associated with love of a friend
Compared to the love of a friend, the love we feel for strangers (pictured) produces relatively little brain activation
For example, compare the brain map associated with the love you feel for a stranger, to that associated with love for a friend.
The closer somebody is to us, the more intensely the social regions of our brains activate in response to that feeling of love.
The most powerful activation of all was the love experienced by a parent for a child, followed by romantic.
However, the pattern of brain activation was not only influenced by closeness to the object of our love but also by the type of object.
The love for pets and the love of nature produce distinctly different patterns of activation to those produced by love for other humans.
For example, the love of nature activates the reward centre regions associated with visual processing and spatial awareness.
The type of brain activation observed also varied according to the type of thing loved. The love of pets (pictured) produces very different patterns of activation to that of another person
The love of nature activated regions of the brain associated with spacial awareness and visual processing (pictured)
The only exception was found in participants who were also pet owners.
The researchers found that living with your furry friend made such significant changes to your thought processes that they could spot the pet owners by their brain activity.
Participants were read a phrase like: ‘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.’
For pet owners, and no one else, hearing this story also activates the social areas of the brain more typically associated with love for humans.
The researchers have previously mapped where in the body different types of love were felt by asking where participants tended to feel the experience most
The researchers found that participants who had pets of their own experienced brain activation in the social regions of the brain when imaging a scenario involving their pets
This supports a growing body of evidence that humans’ love for our pets may truly transcend species boundaries.
Recent research has found that when humans look into their pet’s eyes it activates oxytocin pathways similar to mother-infant bonding.
Dr Rinne says: ‘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.
‘When it comes to the pet owners, these areas are more activated than with non-pet owners.
