Love study

Question 1

Outline fishers study

Answer 1

Participants were 10 women and seven men aged from 18 to 26, who reported being in love for an average of 7.5 months. The participants first filled out a questionnaire (The Passionate Love Scale) to investigate how they felt about their relationship. Then they were placed in the fMRI scanner. They first looked at a photograph of their beloved, then performed a distraction task of counting backwards, and finally they looked at a photograph of a neutral acquaintance. This was repeated six times. An FMRI scan showed an increase in blood flow which was detected by the FMRI. Blood flow increase indicates that the patient is in love. Love lights up the pleasure center in the brain which causes better blood flow.

Question 2

how many brain scans did they analyze?

Answer 2

2,500 brain scans

Question 3

which two parts of the brain ‘lit up’?

Answer 3

caudate nucleus and ventral tegmental area

Question 4

what is the caudate nucleus for?

Answer 4

associated with reward detection and expectation and the integration of sensory experiences into social behaviour

Question 5

what is the ventral tegmental area for?

Answer 5

pleasure, focused attention, and the motivation to pursue and acquire rewards.