How does love make people blind? A new study decodes the mystery

Love, that intoxicating and often unpredictable emotion, has long been known to drive individuals to do seemingly irrational things. From constant thoughts about a loved one to the feeling of making them the center of our universe — love has the power to scramble the human brain. Now, a first of kind study has surveyed as many as 1556 young “in love” adults to better understand how romantic love influences brain activity.

The study focuses on understanding the intricate connections between the behavioral activation system (BAS) and the experience of romantic love. This extensive survey was conducted by researchers from the Australian National University (ANU), the University of Canberra, and the University of South Australia.

“We actually know very little about the evolution of romantic love. As a result, every finding that tells us about romantic love’s evolution is an important piece of the puzzle that’s just been started,” said Adam Bode, lead researcher of this study from ANU. “It is thought that romantic love first emerged some five million years ago after we split from our ancestors, the great apes.

We know the ancient Greeks philosophised about it a lot, recognising it both as an amazing as well as traumatic experience. The oldest poem ever to be recovered was in fact a love poem dated to around 2000 BC,” added Bode. How love influences brain The survey delved into various aspects of the participants' experiences of love, with questions focusing on emotional reactions to their partners, behavioral patterns around them, and the degree of attention devoted to their loved ones.

The findings suggest that when people fall in love, their brains react differently, making their love interest the center of their existence. The team examined the Behavioral Activation System (BAS), a biopsychological mechanism that is triggered in response to positive emotions like excitement and happiness.

While oxytocin, often termed the "love hormone," is generally associated with romantic love, the study revealed that BAS activity plays a crucial role in quickly directing attention and prioritizing stimuli associated with another person. Certain triggers, notably the presence of a loved one, activate the BAS, causing brain changes.

This process is driven by the activities of oxytocin and dopamine, resulting in the prioritization of this particular stimulus above all others. Despite the intricacy of this system, visible results include actions such as prioritizing the loved one and fully immersing oneself in the feeling of new romantic love.

“We know the role that oxytocin plays in romantic love, because we get waves of it circulating throughout our nervous system and bloodstream when we interact with loved ones,” said Phil Kavanagh. “The way that loved ones take on special importance, however, is due to oxytocin combining with dopamine, a chemical that our brain releases during romantic love.

Essentially, love activates pathways in the brain associated with positive feelings,” explained Kavanagh in the The research also outlines the next steps, which involve exploring the differences between men and women in their approach to love. Furthermore, the team intends to undertake a large scale study to identify four unique types of romantic lovers, adding another layer to our expanding understanding of love and the brain.

The findings were reported in the journal . Research investigating the mechanisms that contribute to romantic love is in its infancy. The behavioral activation system is one biopsychological system that has been demonstrated to play a role in several motivational outcomes. This study was the first to investigate romantic love and the behavioral activation system.

In study 1, the Behavioral Activation System—Sensitivity to a Loved One (BAS SLO) Scale was validated in a sample of 1556 partnered young adults experiencing romantic love. In study 2, hierarchical linear regression was used to identify BAS SLO Scale associations with the intensity of romantic love in a subsample of 812 partnered young adults experiencing romantic love for two years or less.

The BAS SLO Scale explained 8.89% of the variance in the intensity of romantic love. Subject to further validation and testing, the BAS SLO Scale may be useful in future neuroimaging and psychological studies. The findings are considered in terms of the mechanisms and evolutionary history of romantic love..