love

Love has been talked about for centuries. From philosophers, historians, poets and even scientists everyone is curious about love. Many of these people have felt the rush of falling in love. Or the deep feeling of love for a close friend or family member. But what is love? It plays a big role in evolution. Many pairs of people have fallen in love so that you can be here today reading this post. For some reason the heart has been a symbol of love even though we have proven that all the magic happens in the brain. The brain of someone in love looks oddly similar to someone on cocaine. Both of these stimuli lower the threshold on the pleasure centers on the brain causing them to fire more frequently. This causes you to not only fall in love with the person but also gives you a romanticized view of the world around you. Everything seems happy to you because everything sets off your pleasure centers. What is really cool is that pain and aversion centers also fire less. But what causes all of this to happen on a biological level. During an orgasm or even just looking at a picture of your loved one, a person will produce extra dopamine and norepinephrine in a certain area of your brain, the ventral tegmental area (VTA). This causes arousal and the desire to be with the person you love. Romantic love is not simply an emotion; it is also a desire. This desire bring about energy, happiness and the ability to concentrate. The pleasure centers I mentioned before a part of the mesolimbic dopamine system. If you stimulate this system while learning than the learning becomes much easier.  When the VTA is stimulated the brain releases oxytocin as well. Oxytocin helps reenforce bonding and/or attachment.

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