Striking a blow for men everywhere, researchers have concluded that the brain perceives romance/love/relationships fundamentally differently than sexual arousal!
In an analysis of the images appearing today in The Journal of Neurophysiology, researchers in New York and New Jersey argue that romantic love is a biological urge distinct from sexual arousal.
It is closer in its neural profile to drives like hunger, thirst or drug craving, the researchers assert, than to emotional states like excitement or affection. As a relationship deepens, the brain scans suggest, the neural activity associated with romantic love alters slightly, and in some cases primes areas deep in the primitive brain that are involved in long-term attachment.
See, ladies, even your own brains compartmentalize! We were right all along!
May 30th, 2005 at 11:05 pm
So it’s like a craving. Oddly, I’m not surprised. As a self-confested “crazy woman” (but in rehab, trying to be less crazy about new relationships, but failing miserably), I’m happy to hear that it might be biological after all.