Hi °C | Lo °C IT seems Shakespeare was right – love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind.
Researchers have found that they can spot the signs of a true romance in people embarking on a new relationship by looking at how much their brains light up when they think about their new partner.
The scientists detected distinctive patterns of electrical activity in the brains of volunteers who believed they had recently fallen in love and found that they could use the scans to predict whether a couple would stay together.
The findings could end the uncertainty of courting by revealing whether a couple are likely to have a long relationship or see their feelings fizzle out.
The scans showed that even if someone believed they had fallen in love, the activity of their neurons could suggest whether their feelings were strong enough for them to be with the other person three years later.
Professor Arthur Aron, a social psychologist at Stony Brook University in Long Island, New York, said: "All of those involved in the study felt very intensely in love and this was reflected in their scans, but there were some subtle indicators that showed how stable those feeling were.
"If that strong feeling was combined with signs that they could regulate emotions, to see the partner positively and deal with conflict, then it seems to be really productive in staying with the person."
The psychologists, whose research was published in the journal Neuroscience Letters, found a number of key parts of the brain were involved.
The scientists scanned five men and seven women who had fallen in love and had been with their partner for about a year.
As they were scanned, each was shown a picture of their partner and asked to think of memories of them.
The participants were also asked to think about and look at pictures of an acquaintance with whom they had no romantic attachment.
LIVING SECTION THE LOVING EDITION
Three years later, the researchers compared the scans with the outcome of each relationship. Half the relationships had lasted.
The scientists found that the scans of those who were still in relationships had heightened levels of activity when thinking of their partner in an area of the brain that produces emotional responses to visual beauty, known as the caudate tail.
These people also had lower levels of activity in the pleasure centres of the brain that relate to addiction and seeking rewards. The scientists say deactivation in this area has been linked to satiety and satisfaction.
Another part of the brain, known as the medial orbitofrontal cortex, was also less active, which the scientists say made those people less critical and judgmental about their partners.
Prof Aron said the research could have a practical application in helping people having relationship problems.
He said: "We may eventually get to a point where we can recognise things that the person doesn't recognise themselves and we can say that they are not as intensely attached to a person as they think they are."
Prof Aron added: "This probably facilitates handling the conflicts that inevitably arise when you spend a lot of time with someone. It plays a big part in keeping people together and staying satisfied."
© Telegraph
Irish Independent
