The Science Behind True Love

Times Online:

SCIENTISTS have discovered true love. Brain scans have proved that a small number of couples can respond with as much passion after 20 years as most people exhibit only in the first flush of love.

The findings overturn the conventional view that love and sexual desire peak at the start of a relationship and then decline as the years pass.

A team from Stony Brook University in New York scanned the brains of couples who had been together for 20 years and compared them with those of new lovers. They found that about one in 10 of the mature couples exhibited the same chemical reactions when shown photographs of their loved ones as people commonly do in the early stages of a relationship.

Read the whole story: Times Online

Comments

[iPolitics]

the audacity of fish

[research]

Hope.

[willclower]

The conclusions of this article are EXACTLY wrong. In the article, they say:

"The scans of some of the long-term couples, however, revealed that elements of limerence mature, enabling them to enjoy what a new report calls 'intensive companionship and sexual liveliness'. "

Just because brain activity correlates to a long lasting love, does not mean that that activity is what "enables" them to stay in love with each other. They write this as if you and I have no say in the matter -- your brain just causes you to feel that way.

This makes it difficult not to be confused by this article. Here's another example:

"The findings overturn the conventional view that love and sexual desire peak at the start of a relationship and then decline as the years pass."

You needed a brain scan study to tell you that? All they had to do was to look at the behaviors of everyday couples to see the same result. As they point out, about 1 in 10 individuals show the same in-love reactions to their spouses. This is what you and I, normal people, would predict from simply looking around in our lives.

Most people slide into complacency in relationships. But occasionally, older couples remain crazy in love with each other ... it's cute when you see them together, all moonie eyed.

The brain scan study certainly showed a reflection of this behavior. However, they conclusively showed nothing approaching their claims in this article.

[kellygrrrl]

Brain Scans? Have you met Americans?

[Hirnlego]

LOL

[alansky]

One in ten, huh?

[blairfell]

This article was INTENSELY depressing. Yet again something I may have missed out on. I hate the English.