EARLY STAGE INTENSE ROMANTIC LOVE: These fMRI scans show brain activity in
ten women and seven men who had “just fallen madly in love" as they gazed at
a photograph of their beloved. (A) The ventral tegmental area is a tiny
region of the brainstem. rich in cells that produce and distribute dopamine
to many brain areas, including the caudate nucleus. It is part of the
brain’s network for general arousal, focussed attention and motivation to
acquire rewards. B) The Caudate nucleus is a large, C-shaped region near the
center of the brain. The specific region shown is the antero-medial body of
the caudate, which is rich in dopamine receptors and associated with
attention, anticipation of a reward and motivation to win a reward.
Activity in this region was greatest among those people who scored highest
on a questionnaire, the Passionate Love Scale. (C) Women tended to show more
activity than men in cortical areas that process attention, emotion and
memory recall. (D) Men tended to show more activity than women in cortical
areas associated with the integration of visual stimuli (right in this
image) and penile erection (Left). Credit: Image prepared by Lucy L. Brown
and Diane M. Smith, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York
USA.