The Intensity of 'Love' Seen Through Brain Activity... Parental Love is the Strongest

It has been revealed that the word 'love' activates different parts of the brain depending on the type of human experience. According to UPI News on the 26th, researchers from Aalto University in Finland published the results of a study on how various types of love affect the human brain in the international academic journal Cerebral Cortex. The researchers conducted the study on 55 participants who stated they had someone they loved (all of whom had children).

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First, the researchers had the participants listen to short stories about six types of love (children, romantic partners, friends, strangers, pets, and nature) performed by professional actors. While the participants listened to scenarios that made them recall memories such as the birth of their child for the first time, their brain activity was measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

Although the intensity of brain activity varied by type, most activated the same regions of the brain. According to co-author Professor Partiri Linne, the pattern of love activation is generated in the basal ganglia, the medial prefrontal cortex, the occipital side of the frontal lobe, and the temporoparietal junction in social situations.

The study found that brain activity related to love was influenced not only by the intimacy of the object but also by whether it was a human, another species, or nature. Among the six types, love between people activated the same brain areas regardless of the intimacy of the relationship, but the intensity of activation differed. Love in close relationships showed more intense activity than compassionate love toward strangers.

Love for nature activated the brain's reward system and visual areas but did not activate social brain regions. On the other hand, when imagining spending time with pets, pet owners showed more activation in brain areas related to social emotions than when thinking about nature. Regarding this, Professor Linne explained, "Examining brain activity related to love for pets statistically revealed whether a person was a pet owner in brain areas associated with sociality."

Among the six types of love, the strongest brain activity was triggered by love for children, followed by romantic love. Professor Linne stated, "In parental love, activation occurred deep in the brain's reward system in the striatum while imagining love," adding, "Such intense brain activity was not observed in other types of love."

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