An interesting study was done recently in NY which involved the study of young people newly in love and what parts of their brains were “turned on” and most active during these first, thrilling stages when a person has just fallen in love with someone.  We all know that falling in love or lust with someone can be totally consuming when it first happens, for a few months or even up to a year.  Of course, this excitement does gradually fade as the love matures, but it is a very powerful, overcoming feeling at first which involves brain areas that are responsible for the feelings of elation - almost a “high” if you will.

The study involved studying MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) of the brain of those newly enthralled with their loved one, and when presented with images of the one they love, various areas of the brain involved with the production of dopamine and cravings “lit up”, showing that the creation of additional dopamine accounts for the feelings of being on cloud nine when first in love with someone. 

They even differentiated between love and sexual feelings, or lust without love, and did not find that these same areas lit up, which is fascinating, because one would think love and lust would be closely related to one another in relation to the areas of the brain it would stimulate, but this apparently is not the case with love and its counterpart lust. 

Not only did they find out why new love feels so incredible, but these finding also explain why when a person is rejected by their loved one, it can be ultimately defeating and very emotionally painful.  The most intersting part to me is that it is fairly conclusive at this point that lust and love operate out of two different brain centers at first, and then as the love matures, they kind of blend the line and become fuzzy (probably because sex becomes more of something that has to be kept interesting as a couple is together longer).  I’d love to see a study like this on the pheromones affects on the human brain, both on men and women.  I don’t think that’s been done yet….