(File photo/MGN)FRIDAY, June 22 (HealthDay News) -- Love and
sexual desire activate different but related areas of the brain,
according to a new study.
Researchers analyzed data from 20 studies
that monitored brain activity in people while engaged in activities such
as viewing erotic pictures or photographs of their romantic partners.
This meta-analysis led to a map of love and
desire in the brain, which shows that two structures called the insula
and the striatum are involved in the progression from sexual desire to
love.
"No one has ever put these two together to
see the patterns of activation," study co-author Jim Pfaus, professor of
psychology at Concordia University in Montreal, said in a university
news release. "We didn't know what to expect -- the two could have ended
up being completely separate. It turns out that love and desire
activate specific but related areas in the brain."
The researchers found that love and sexual
desire activate different areas of the striatum. The area activated by
sexual desire is the same one that is activated by pleasurable
activities such as sex or food. The area activated by love is where
things associated with reward or pleasure are given a value.
The area activated by love also is associated with drug addiction, the researchers said.
"Love is actually a habit that is formed from
sexual desire as desire is rewarded," Pfaus explained. "It works the
same way in the brain as when people become addicted to drugs."
He also noted that love activates pathways in
the brain involved in monogamy and pair bonding, and added that some
areas in the brain are less active when people feel love than when they
feel desire.
"While sexual desire has a very specific
goal, love is more abstract and complex," Pfaus said. "It's less
dependent on the physical presence of someone else."
The study conclusions should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.
