Is this the man of your life? Will she still be with you after three years?It seems that the activity of the brain in the initial phase of the relationship can predict it. This is how a study published in 2012 by a group of North American and Chinese researchers tells it in the journalNeuroscience Letters.
In its perhaps less romantic version, love and relationships have also been studied since theNeuroscience. It is known that different areas of the brain are activated depending on the moment of the relationship in which you are. Initially, in the most intense stage of romantic love, there is a greater activation of the brain areas of reward and motivation, such as the ventral tegmental area, in which there are high concentrations of dopamine. Once this stage is overcome, activity is also found in areas such as the medial orbitofrontal cortex and the putamen, more related to social ties and substances such as oxytocin.
So far, the data can be illustrative of the fact that love, beyond its most abstract conception, involves more or less clear brain phenomena. What is surprising is thatbrain activity in the initial phase of a relationship can predict what will happen to the partner after just over three years.
In the study in question, an initial functional MRI scan was performed on a group of women who said they were ‘intensely in love’ with their partners at the time of the test. Exactly 40 months later, he contacted them again to find out if their relationship had remained stable. In this second phase, they compared 6 women who were still with their partner with 6 other women who had broken up.
The group that had broken their relationship before 40 months had shown in the initial phase less activation in the medial orbitofrontal cortex, the right cingulum and the right nucleus accumbens, areas related to long-term romantic love and satisfaction with the relationship. Thelower activation of these areas was also related to lower happiness scores in the relationship.
According to the authors, their findings could be preliminary evidence that the brain’s responses in the early moments of romantic love can predict the stability of relationships and their quality over the next three years.
It is clear that, beyond being the generator of our cognitive abilities, the brain is an expert in affections, feelings and emotions. Is it time to replace the phrase ‘Pay attention to your heart’ by ‘Pay attention to your brain’?
Marisa Fernández, Senior Neuropsychologist, Unobrain
