The Neuroscience of Human Relationships
Introduction
What is a relationship?
When we hear the word relationship, our minds automatically assume we are talking about those in a romantic relationship. By definition, a relationship is the way two or more concepts, objects, or people are connected or the state of being connected. Relationships can come in all forms whether it be romantic, or with family.
How does this relate to Neuroscience?
Believe it or not, our brains are affected by the bonds we form from relationships. Our brains are also considered the control center that releases and receive all of the chemical signals that come from relationships. Many have researched and looked at brain images to try and understand how relationships affect the brain. There is limited evidence that is out in the database, but with what has been discovered researchers can continue to learn and make breakthroughs.
How do relationships develop?
We may think that forming relationships begins after we are born, but most of us already have formed a bond with our mother while we are in the womb. This is due to the brain activating hormones, which are then secreted throughout the body. These hormones are dopamine, oxytocin, and serotonin. Dopamine is the feel-good hormone and its levels play a role in partner selection. Females have been known to show higher levels of dopamine when it comes to partner selection. Oxytocin is referred to as the “love hormone” and this is produced through physical contact with a person, which promotes the feeling of love and bonding. Serotonin plays a role in our mood and judgment, which is based on the level of attraction towards another. Relationships also develop based off of several attraction principles. This evidence comes from a speed dating study conducted by two professors at two different universities. They wanted to figure out why we were attracted to some individuals and not others. The four principles that were looked at where, The Similarity Principle, Reciprocity, Beauty (Physical Attractiveness), and Security. They took one hundred and eight heterosexual students, with fifty-four being male and fifty-four being female, who are single and asked them to participate in this study in exchange for credits. The procedure for this study had three sessions: pre-event, where the filled out a packet full of general information, at-event, where six speed-dating events occurred, and the postevent, where the individuals were handed a feedback sheet with the question “Would you be interested in seeing this partner again after the speed date event?”. (Luo 2009). Each principle was tested and data was collected for each.
The Beauty Principle showed to be the strongest predictor of initial attraction. The study found that men’s attraction was significantly correlated with twelve partner characteristics. This suggests that men are more attracted to women who are older, athletic, physically attractive, and not overweight. Wome however, only had two partner characteristics which they were attracted to men who were good-looking and athletic. In the study, this principle showed that physical attractiveness was the only positive correlation that was replicated across both genders. (Luo, 2009). This could be easy to infer because physical appearance is what we see first when we first lay eyes on someone.
Relationships
Romantic
Romantic relationships are what we define as two individual in love who and are devoted to each other.
Romantic love can be associated with the activation in the reward and motivations systems in the brain. A study was conducted to see whether or not these activations could predict long-term relationship stability. These researchers used a previous fMRI study done on early-stage love and contacted those who were still together after forty months. Those who were together still showed less activation in the early stages of love in the medial orbitofrontal cortex, right subcallosal cingulate, and right accumbens, which are regions associated with long-term love and satisfaction (Bartels, 2004). This data is preliminary evidence that these neural responses in the early stages are predictors for relationship stability in the later years.
Family
One of the most important family relationships is the one between a child and the mother. The bond between a child and mother begins when the child is a fetus in the womb. Maternal love also does not happen in the same areas of the brain
The picture above shows that different types of love are experienced in different parts of the brain. There is some overlapping, but for the most part, different regions showcase different love. The love between family differs from the romantic love between two individuals. A study was done on the correlation of maternal and romantic love, where fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) was used to measure brain activity in mothers while they looked at pictures of their own children. An fMRI is a noninvasive test that uses a strong magnetic field and radio waves to create detailed images of the brain. This study compared the brain activity to that of brain activity of those in love. These researchers wanted to find where the distribution of attachment-mediating neurohormones was happening in the brain. It was found that both types of attachment showed a correlation with each other with overlapping activated regions in the brain’s reward system that coincide with areas rich in oxytocin and vasopressin receptors. It was concluded that human attachment employs a push-pull mechanism that overcomes social distance by deactivating the networks that are used for critical social assessment and negative emotions (Bartels, 2004). It was found that it bonds individuals through the involvement of the reward center in our brains.
Love Addiction
When hearing the term love addiction, most brush it off and laugh, but scientists have done research that has found parallels between how love makes us feel and the stimulation caused by drugs. Activity in the nucleus accumbens, which is a central part of the brain’s reward system, has been linked to the feelings of wanting, craving, energy, focus, and motivation. When looking at primary addictions the nucleus accumbens has been associated with all cravings to drugs. A study on how the brain responds to love and how the brain responds to addiction was done back in 2017. In the link below is a video of how the brain naturally reacts to love.
Comparing the two videos show that many of the receptors react the same on love as they do illegal drugs. Neurotransmitters flood our brain and send our bodies into haywire. Dopamine activates euphoria, which is similar to what cocaine does to the body. Cortisol is then released to try and control the excess levels of dopamine, but in turn, ends up lowering the levels of serotonin. Serotonin plays an important role in our mood, appetite, sleep, and judgment. During a relationship sometimes the pull of love can be so strong, that these individuals who are affected can become distracted, unreliable, and unreasonable. In cases like this, the individual is on the path to personal ruin and hardship. When a relationship ends is when we see the most correlation between drugs and love. We experience cycles of alternating ecstasy and despair, which causes longing and sometimes damaging thoughts and behaviors. The study states that those with abnormal brain function are more susceptible to love addiction than others. (SOURCE) This means that if drugs can produce abnormal brain processes, then would an abnormally high natural reward we feel from love based off of past studies. Attachment and abnormal sexual behaviors help to narrow down the possibility of those suffering from love addiction. They are: It interferes with their ability to participate in the ordinary functions of everyday life, disables them from experiencing healthy relationships, or carries other clear negative consequences for themselves (Earp, 2017). Essentially the ultimate difference between addiction to drugs and love addiction is that we do not yearn to become addicted to drugs, but we do yearn for love.
Rejection
We usually associate physical pain with broken bones, toothaches, or burns, but another thing that causes physical pain is rejection or heartbreak. Studies have been done to show us that romantic rejection hurts just like physical pain and when it happens we should think of it like a broken bone meaning it will heal in time. Those who have experienced heartbreak have shown activity in the ventral tegmental area, which is directly linked with the feeling of passionate romantic love. Another region that showed activity was the ventral pallidum, which is where feelings of deep attachment occur(The Rejected Brian, 2016). The anterior insula is another region that activity occurred in when looking at someone who has been rejected and this area is linked to physical pain and the distress of physical pain. The difference between physical pain of a broken arm or toothache and rejection is that we tend to remember and physical agony of being rejected.
References
Acevedo, Bianca P., Michael J. Poulin, and Lucy L. Brown. “Beyond Romance: Neural and Genetic Correlates of Altruism in Pair-Bonds.” Behavioral Neuroscience, vol. 133, no. 1, 2019, pp. 18–31. ProQuest, http://ezproxy.loras.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.loras.edu/docview/2171816156?accountid=35772, doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.loras.edu/10.1037/bne0000293.
Bartels, A., & Zeki, S. (2004, February 01). The neural correlates of maternal and romantic love. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811903007237
Earp, B. D., Wudarczyk, O. A., Foddy, B., & Savulescu, J. (2017, March). Addicted to love: What is love addiction and when should it be treated? Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5378292/
Langeslag, S. J. E., van, d. V., & Fekkes, D. (2012). Blood levels of serotonin are differentially affected by romantic love in men and women. Journal of Psychophysiology, 26(2), 92–98. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.loras.edu/10.1027/0269-8803/a000071
Luo, S., & Zhang, G. (2009, May 18). What Leads to Romantic Attraction: Similarity, Reciprocity, Security, or Beauty? Evidence From a Speed‐Dating Study. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2009.00570.x
Regional brain activity during early-stage intense romantic love predicted relationship outcomes after 40 months: An fMRI assessment. (2012, August 10). Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0304394012010439#bib0170
The Rejected Brain. (2016, March 10). Retrieved from https://theanatomyoflove.com/the-results/the-rejected-brain/
Wang, Z., Yu, G., Cascio, C., Liu, Y., Gingrich, B., & Insel, T. R. (1999). Dopamine D2 receptor-mediated regulation of partner preferences in female prairie voles ( microtus ochrogaster): A mechanism for pair bonding? Behavioral Neuroscience, 113(3), 602–611. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.loras.edu/10.1037/0735-7044.113.3.602
Uchino, B. N., & Way, B. M. (2017). Integrative pathways linking close family ties to health: A neurochemical perspective. American Psychologist, 72(6), 590–600. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.loras.edu/10.1037/amp0000049
