Why do we fall in love? Science has the answer!

Bard

From: http://www.cosmiverse.com/science09110102.html

Science has answered the question of why we fall in love. The answer, however, came from studying something decidedly unromantic: the humble prairie vole. Professor Gareth Leng from the University of Edinburgh says a "love potion" is created in women's brains after the act of sex, which allows her to form a bond with her partner.

Leng addressed the British Association Science Festival in Glasgow earlier this week, saying that love is all chemistry based on evidence gleaned from the vole, which engages in enormous bouts of sexual intercourse, far in excess of that needed for reproduction.

"If you were to spend (many hours in) intense sexual activity with a partner, something fundamental might happen to your behavior," he said. "That's often what you see in animals. Many animals bond for life. It's not going to surprise anybody to think something fundamental is happening in the brain."

Oxytocin, produced by the pituitary gland in the brain, is probably also a factor in creating the bond between mother and child at birth and during breast-feeding. In prairie voles, a monogamous species, the effect is especially strong. "If you put a male and female prairie vole into a cage, but don't allow them to mate, they seem to form a kind of friendship. But if you inject oxytocin into the female's brain, she will form this sexual bond."

Professor Leng said: "We're talking about 24 hours of constant copulation." If this behavior were applied to humans, it could mean that the more sex a couple have, the deeper their bond becomes, at least on the woman's side. "So how does a brain fall in love? My answer, perhaps, like yours, would be: a time, a place, a pair of eyes."

...

glad they sorted that one out then

Bob the Unlucky Octopus

Well, it's been coming, and for a while now- doubt it'll suprise anyone in the medical profession anyway We've known endorphins, the pituatary gland, and even thyroxine were involved with these feelings before...but oxytocin? That's a hormone used to create a bond between mother and child during breast-feeding in mammals. It creates the understandably disturbing(though hardly suprising ) impression that women look upon their male partners as children to be used for a sexual need, at least subconciously. This theme is repeated throughout the animal kingdom, where matriarchal family structures are the norm. It explains more than a few "social circumstances" though

Occy

Digi_Tilmitt

Tilmitt knew all that anyway, being my sexy self.....................

Bob the Unlucky Octopus

That as a male (even a mamallian one) we're fairly expendable in the grand scheme of most things in mordern society, with the notable exception of a small contribution to procreation. Pretty sobering stuff considering the implications of this research

Occy

][cEMAN**

I'm sorry but BULLSH1T!!!

C'mon. I mean this is totally disregarding then any person who has decided to abstain from sex before marriage. Strangely enough though they DO form a bond of love in order TO get married.

Also where in this do they categorize the male point of view? This reasoning singles out women. Is that to say that women form a greater bond of love than men do?

Also what about women who partake in casual sex with multiple partners. Please explain why they mostly feel no love or affection towards them the next day (we're gonna ignore the alcohol response here as not ALL are drunk).

And finally explain why women who have been in a marriage for a long period of time and who HAVE had intercourse with their partner on an incredibly large scale still end up getting divorced because they no longer love their partner?

Loomer

Originally posted by Bob the Unlucky Octopus
Well, it's been coming, and for a while now- ....
Occy

Ooh Matron!

][cEMAN**

Firstly I appologise for my previous outburst - I wasn't saying anything but the actual science extract was bull....

I'd also like to add as an idea I have had (It's only an opinion and unfounded - comments would be appreciated) that there must be some other reason that we feel attraction.

Now I know Occy can fill in the gaps her about hormones and pheramones but part of what people say release these are our bodies reacting to people's smell and touch etc. Though what explains when you see someone on television and their so called beauty excites?

I mena you have no psychological connection as they haven't said anything. They may be fully clothed so it isn't a seduction of skin. You can't smell them or react to their hormones/pheramones.

So what excites us to certain people over others?

I think one idea on this would be based in a television program I watched on how there is a part of your brain which associates facial attributes to memory and how you see people, i.e. A man was in an accident and suffered brain damage in a localised part of his brain. From this point on he was no longer able to recognise his parents as really BEING his parents. To him they were people who looked similar but were not real.

The part of his brain he had damaged associated facial features with memories of people. It meant that anybody he had known (including his wife) were strangers to him.

It was shown how people who are quite similar (at least in some features) may be mistaken for others. It also explains why characatures of people are easily recognised.

Now if we associate facial features with memory and aslo feelings then maybe it is the actual look itslef which creates an association in our brains telling it TO release endorphins and trigger sexual stimulation.

This would explain why people love....the lovely people.....

Hannah

the way i took up the thread, although they didn't actually say it was that the "chemistry of love" plays a part in the way we come to feel about a person, but it isn't the only aspect to be taken in to account ie. sometimes other things overrule the hormonal response eg. lust.

BoneCollector

Now for a completely!! wild!! theory

I have noticed that some long term marrages that survive have one thing in common....

mother and father look! very similar in features (kinda like brother and sister)
so.... does this mean that the 1st person we fall in love with is ourselves???
Or at least someone who resembles a person you recognise and feel comfortable to be with???
Looks can be important to what attracts a mate, so when you see someone accross a room and somethings attracts you to that person, is it possible they on a subconcious level, remind you of a person that you once felt or feel comfortable with???

Familiarity!?
looks, Smells, tastes, sounds, etc.....
these are all things that trigger memmory centers in our brains and associate past or future events, good or bad.
You could be walking down a street and hear a song or get a scent of something (which need not be a pleasant smell) but triggers a memmory of a place or something you once experieced good or bad.

][cEMAN**

Hmmmm probably no......

This sounds too much like the pet/owner theory ie. the longer an owner has a pet the more the two begin to resemble each other

BoneCollector

this may sound like owner pet theory?
but i could post several pictures of couples i know and the only difference between them is gender m/f
appart from this they are! identical (some more than others)
Especialy one of my work mates, his wife has a very! strong resemblance to him or visa versa, in fact its so strong is obvious! :cool:

][cEMAN**

Yeah but that' s what i'm saying - have they been together long? Or short term.

This will answer your question. If it's over years then your theory may be defunkt as it may be more the owner/pet theory but if it's been weeks or months then you may have something going for you there.

Hell I know I'M a sexy bastid and i'd marry me cause i'm a great catch smart funny and....well as you can see totaly up myself hehehe (only joking - i'm modest really)

BoneCollector

Okay lets take both sides
one has been married about 2 years and the other...
well.... a lifetime (HOWEVER!)
I can get a photo of the lifetime couple when they where only dating a couple of months and the comparison is still there and this would be over 30 years back and they still have the same features :-)
you know the old saying.... (beuty is in the eye of the beholder!?)
this is probably quite true... as what one finds attractive the other does not, so what make one attractive to the other and not someone else has to be something thats familiar and is either you or someone else. (anyway that my theory based on pure observation) and it still happening. :-)

][cEMAN**

So what you're REALLY trying to tell us is.......Ms Piggy and Kermit the frog wouldn't have a future together?

BoneCollector

Nope!
What im saying is...
Attraction takes many forms
this is just one of them!

rymus

could this also be linked to a reason why most (if not all) female virgins are annoying, uptight bimbo's?

c'mon science, youve given us absurd answers for absurd questions in the past, I know you can do it again