Fisher, Aron and Brown (2005)

Fisher, Aron and Brown (2005)

dopamine and romantic love

Aim

To investigate neural mechanisms of romantic love.

Participants

17 participants who where "intensely in love" with someone, mean age 21, mean duration of BIL 7 months

Method and design

Experiment; repeated measures design

Procedure 1/2

Participants were placed in fMRI scanner and went through following four steps (repeated 6 times)

Procedure 2/2

1. viewing photo of loved person 2. filler activity 3. viewing photo of emotionally neutral acquaintence 4. filler activity Brain responses to first and third step were compered.

Results

There was specific pattern of activation in the brain in response to the photographs of the loved ones. Especially significant in dopamine-rich areas brain areas.