Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-t5pn6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T17:09:28.445Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 4 - Neuroimaging of Love in the Twenty-first Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 December 2018

Robert J. Sternberg
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Karin Sternberg
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Get access

Summary

If you have ever driven under the influence of love but were not charged with DUI (driving under the influence), this could change soon. Neuroimaging research in rodents suggests that love has a similar brain signature to drugs like alcohol or cocaine – subjecting the afflicted to compulsive tendencies that interfere with ordinary responsibilities.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2018

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acevedo, B. P., Aron, A., Fisher, H. E., & Brown, L. L. (2012). Neural correlates of long-term intense romantic love. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 7(2), 145159. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsq092. Epub 2011 Jan 5. PubMed PMID: 21208991; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3277362.Google Scholar
Aron, A., & Aron, E. N. (1996). Love and expansion of the self: The state of the model. Personal Relationships, 3, 4558.Google Scholar
Aron, A., Aron, E. N., Tudor, M., & Nelson, G. (1991). Close relationships as including other in the self. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 241253.Google Scholar
Aron, A., Paris, M., & Aron, E. N. (1995). Falling in love: Prospective studies of self-concept change. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(6), 11021112.Google Scholar
Aron, A., Fisher, H., Mashek, D. J., Strong, G., Li, H., & Brown, L. L. (2005). Reward, motivation, andemotion systems associated with early-stage intense romantic love. Journal of Neurophysiology, 94(1), 327337. Epub 2005 May 31. PubMed PMID: 15928068.Google Scholar
Babiloni, F., Cincotti, F., Mattia, D., Mattiocco, M., De Vico Fallani, F., Tocci, A., Bianchi, L., Marciani, M. G., & Astolfi, L. (2006). Hypermethods for EEG hyperscanning. Conf Proc IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 1: 36663669. PubMed PMID: 17945788.Google Scholar
Balconi, M., & Vanutelli, M. E. (2017). Interbrains cooperation: Hyperscanning and self-perception in joint actions. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, Aug; 39(6), 607620. doi: 10.1080/13803395.2016.1253666. Epub 2016 Nov 13. PubMed PMID: 27841088.Google Scholar
Bartels, A., & Zeki, S. (2000). The neural basis of romantic love. Neuroreport, 11(17), 38293834. Retrieved from www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11117499Google Scholar
Bartels, A., (2004). The neural correlates of maternal and romantic love. Neuroimage, 21(3), 11551166. PubMed PMID: 15006682.Google Scholar
Başar, E., Schmiedt-Fehr, C., Oniz, A., & Başar-Eroğlu, C. (2008). Brain oscillations evoked by the face of a loved person. Brain Research, 1214, 105115. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2008.03.042.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beauregard, M., Courtemanche, J., Paquette, V., & St-Pierre, E. L. (2009). The neural basis of unconditional love. Psychiatry Research, 172(2), 9398. Retrieved from https://doi.org/S0925-4927(08)00188-1[pii]10.1016/j.pscychresns.2008.11.003.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bianchi-Demicheli, F., Grafton, S. G. T. S., & Ortigue, S. (2006). The power of love on the human brain. Social Neuroscience, 1(2), 90103. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/17470910600976547.Google Scholar
Birbaumer, N., Lutzenberger, W., Elbert, T., Flor, H., & Rockstroh, B. (1993). Imagery and brain processes. In N. Birbaumer & A. Öhmann (Eds.), The structure of emotion (pp. 298–321). Toronto: Hogrefe and Huber.Google Scholar
Bolmont, M., Cacioppo, J. T., & Cacioppo, S. (2014). Love is in the gaze: An eye-tracking study of love and sexual desire. Psychological Science, 25(9), 17481756. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797614539706.Google Scholar
Brown, K. S., Ortigue, S., Grafton, S. T., & Carlson, J. M. (2010). Improving human brain mapping via joint inversion of brain electrodynamics and the BOLD signal. NeuroImage, 49(3), 24012415. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.10.011.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bullmore, E., & Sporns, O. (2009). Complex brain networks: Graph theoretical analysis of structural and functional systems. Nature Reviews. Neuroscience, 10(3), 186198. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2575.Google Scholar
Burgess, A. P. (2013). On the interpretation of synchronization in EEG hyperscanning studies: A cautionary note. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7, 881.Google Scholar
Cacioppo, J. T., & Berntson, G. G. (2001). Social neuroscience. In N. J. Smelser & P. B. Baltes (Eds), International encyclopedia of the social and behavioral sciences (pp. 14388–14391). Oxford: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Cacioppo, J. T., & Cacioppo, S. (2018). The growing problem of loneliness. Lancet. 391(10119), 426. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)30142-9. PubMed PMID: 29407030.Google Scholar
Cacioppo, J. T., Cacioppo, S., Capitanio, J. P., & Cole, S. W. (2015). The neuroendocrinology of social isolation. Annual Review of Psychology, 66 (9.1–9.35). doi: 10.1146/annurev-psych-010814-015240.Google Scholar
Cacioppo, J. T., Cacioppo, S., & Cole, S. W. (2013). Social neuroscience and social genomics: The emergence of multi-level integrative analyses. International Journal of Psychological Research, 6, 16. Retrieved from http://mvint.usbmed.edu.co:8002/ojs/index.php/web/article/view/647.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cacioppo, J. T., Cacioppo, S., Cole, S. W., Capitanio, J. P., Goossens, , & Boomsma, D. I. (2015). Loneliness across phylogeny and a call for comparative studies and animal models. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10, 202212. doi: 10.1177/1745691614564876.Google Scholar
Cacioppo, J. T., & Patrick, B. (2008). Loneliness: Human nature and the need for social connection. New York: W. W. Norton.Google Scholar
Cacioppo, J. T., Tassinary, L. G., & Berntson, G. G. (2017). Handbook of psychophysiology (4th ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Cacioppo, S. (2017). Neuroimaging of female sexual desire and hypoactive sexual desire disorder. Sexual Medicine Reviews, 5(4). Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sxmr.2017.07.006.Google Scholar
Cacioppo, S., Balogh, S., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2015a). Implicit attention to negative social, in contrast to nonsocial, words in the Stroop task differs between individuals high and low in loneliness: Evidence from event-related brain microstates. Cortex, 70, 213233.Google Scholar
Cacioppo, S., Bangee, M., Balogh, S., Cardenas-Iniguez, C., Qualter, P., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2015b). Loneliness and implicit attention to social threat: A high performance electrical neuroimaging study. Cognitive Neuroscience. doi: 10.1080/17588928.2015.1070136.Google ScholarPubMed
Cacioppo, S., Bianchi-Demicheli, F., Frum, C., Pfaus, J. G., & Lewis, J. W. (2012). The common neural bases between sexual desire and love: A multilevel kernel density fMRI analysis. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 9(4), 10481054. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1743-6109.2012.02651.x.Google Scholar
Cacioppo, S., Bianchi-Demicheli, F., Hatfield, E., & Rapson, R. L. (2012). Social neuroscience of love. Clinical Neuropsychiatry, 9(1), 3–13.Google Scholar
Cacioppo, S., Bolmont, M., & Monteleone, G. (2017). Spatio-temporal dynamics of the mirror neuron system during social intentions. Social Neuroscience. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/17470919.2017.1394911.Google Scholar
Cacioppo, S., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2012). Decoding the invisible forces of social connections. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, 6, Article 51, 17. doi: 10.3389/fnint.2012.00051.Google Scholar
Cacioppo, S., (2013). Lust for life. Scientific American Mind, (November 2013), 56–60. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamericanmind1113-56.Google Scholar
Cacioppo, S., (2016). Research in social neuroscience: How perceived social isolation, ostracism, and romantic rejection affect your brain. In P. Riva & J. Eck (Eds). Social exclusion (pp. 73–88). Switzerland: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-33033-4_4.Google Scholar
Cacioppo, S., (2017). Cognizance of the neuroimaging methods for studying the social brain. Shared Representations, (May), 86106. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107279353.006.Google Scholar
Cacioppo, S., Couto, B., Bolmont, M., Sedeno, L., Frum, C., Lewis, J. W., et al. (2013). Selective decision-making deficit in love following damage to the anterior insula. Current Trends in Neurology, 7, 1519.Google Scholar
Cacioppo, S., Frum, C., Asp, E., Weiss, R. M., Lewis, J. W., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2013). A quantitative meta-analysis of rejection, 1012. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1038/srep02027.Google Scholar
Cacioppo, S., Grafton, S. T., & Bianchi-Demicheli, F. (2012). The speed of passionate love, as a subliminal prime: A high-density electrical neuroimaging study. Neuroquantology, 10(4), 715724. Retrieved from www.neuroquantology.com/index.php/journal/article/view/509.Google Scholar
Cacioppo, S., & Hatfield, E. (2013). From desire to love: New advances from social neuroscience. In L. Bormans (Ed.), The world book of love (pp. 1–2). Tielt, Belgium: Lannoo.Google Scholar
Cacioppo, S., Weiss, R. M., Runesha, H. B., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2014). Dynamic spatiotemporal brain analyses using high performance electrical neuroimaging: Theoretical framework and validation. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 238, 1134. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneumeth.2014.09.009.Google Scholar
Choi, D. C., Furay, A. R., Evanson, N. K., Ostrander, M. M., Ulrich-Lai, Y. M., & Herman, J. P. (2007). Bed nucleus of the stria terminalis subregions differentially regulate hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity: Implications for the integration of limbic inputs. The Journal of Neuroscience, 27, 20252034.Google Scholar
Cole, S. W, Hawkley, L. C., Arevalo, J. M., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2011). Transcript origin analysisidentifies antigen-presenting cells as primary targets of socially regulated geneexpression in leukocytes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108(7), 30803085. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1014218108. Epub 2011 February 7. PubMed PMID: 21300872; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3041107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cole, S. W., Hawkley, L. C., Arevalo, J. M., Sung, C. Y., Rose, R. M., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2007). Social regulation of gene expression in human leukocytes. Genome Biology, 8(9), R189. PubMed PMID: 17854483; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2375027.Google Scholar
Davis, M. (1998). Are different parts of the extended amygdala involved in fear versus anxiety? Biological Psychiatry, 44, 12391247.Google Scholar
Diamond, L. M. (2004). Emerging perspectives on distinctions between romantic love and sexual desire. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 13(3), 116119.Google Scholar
Fisher, H., Aron, A., & Brown, L. L. (2005). Romantic love: An fMRI study of a neural mechanism for mate choice. The Journal of Comparative Neurology, 493(1), 5862.Google Scholar
Hatfield, E., & Rapson, R. L. (2009). The neuropsychology of passionate love. In E. Cuyler & M. Ackhart (Eds.), Psychology of relationships (pp. 1–26). Nova Science.Google Scholar
Hatfield, E., & Rapson, R. L. (1996). Love and sex: Cross-cultural perspectives. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.Google Scholar
Hatfield, E., Hatfield, E., & Sprecher, S. (1986). Measuring passionate love in intimate relations. Journal of Adolescence, 9, 383410.Google Scholar
Montague, , P. R., Berns, G. S., Cohen, J. D., McClure, S. M., Pagnoni, G., Dhamala, M., et al. (2002). Hyperscanning: simultaneous fMRI during linked social interactions. Neuroimage, 16, 11591164. doi: 10.1006/nimg.2002.1150.Google Scholar
Moser, M., Johnshon, S. M., Dalgleish, T. L., Lafontaine, M. F., Wievbe, S. A., & Tasca, G. A. (2016). Changes in relationship-specific attachment in emotionally focused couple therapy. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 42, 231245.Google Scholar
Ortigue, S., Bianchi-Demicheli, F., Hamilton, A. F. D. C., & Grafton, S. T. (2007). The neural basis of love as a subliminal prime: An event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging study. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 19(7), 12181230. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn.2007.19.7.1218.Google Scholar
Ortigue, S., Bianchi-Demicheli, F., Patel, N., Frum, C., & Lewis, J. (2010). Neuroimaging of love: fMRI meta-analysis evidence towards new perspectives in sexual medicine. Journal of Sexual Medicine, 7(11), 35413552.Google Scholar
Siegel, A., & Brutus, M. (1990). Neural substrate of aggression and rage in the cat. Progress in Psychobiology and Physiological Psychology, 14, 135233.Google Scholar
Ulrich-Lai, Y. M., & Herman, J. P. (2009). Neural regulation of endocrine and autonomic stress responses. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 10, 397409.Google Scholar
VanderWeele, T. J., Hawkley, L. C., Thisted, R. A., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2011). A marginal structural model analysis for loneliness: Implications for intervention trials and clinical practice. Journal of Clinical and Consulting Psychology, 79, 225235. doi: 10.1037/a0022610.Google Scholar
Vico, C., Guerra, P., Robles, H., Vila, J., & Anllo-Vento, L. (2010). Affective processing of loved faces: Contributions from peripheral and central electrophysiology. Neuropsychologia, 48(10), 28942902. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.05.031.Google Scholar
Wager, T. D., Atlas, L. Y., Lindquist, M. A., Roy, M., Woo, C.-W., & Kross, E. (2013). An fMRI-based neurologic signature of physical pain. The New England Journal of Medicine, 368(15), 13881397. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1204471.Google Scholar
Wager, T. D., Lindquist, M. A., Nichols, T. E., Kober, H., & Van Snellenberg, J. X. (2009). Evaluating the consistency and specificity of neuroimaging data using meta-analysis. NeuroImage, 45(1 Suppl.), S210–S221. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2008.10.061. www.nytimes.com/2017/11/08/style/modern-love-neuroscience.html. Credit: Stephanie Cacioppo.Google Scholar
Waite, L. J. (2000). Trends in men’s and women’s well-being in marriage. In L. J. Waite, C. Bachrach, M. Hindin, E. Thomson, & A. Thornton (Eds.), The ties that bind: Perspectives on marriage and cohabitation (pp. 368–392). New York: Aldine de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Walker, D. L., Toufexis, D. J., & Davis, M. (2003). Role of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis versus the amygdala in fear, stress, and anxiety. European Journal of Pharmacology, 463, 199216.Google Scholar
Wegner, D. M., Erber, R., & Raymond, P. (1991). Transactive memory in close relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61(6), 923.Google Scholar
Wegner, D. M., Giuliano, T., & Hertel, P. T. (1985). Cognitive interdependence in close relationships. In Ickes, W. J. (Ed.), Compatible and incompatible relationships (pp. 253–276). New York: Springer.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×