There was a thought provoking article in the LA Times today (get the sense that I read the Times before I blog?...You'd be right).  It's about nature of the brain during the first stirrings of (heterosexual) love.  Well, at least the article applies that it was all hetero couples that underwent an MRI after they'd scored as being High on the "Passionate Love Scale."

Apparently the brain reacts the same way (dopamine goes down, serotonin and norepinephrene go up--the seretonin and norepinephrene stimulate the brain while the dopamine makes the loved one a "habit") that a substance addict's brain reacts when fed his/her drug of choice.

Over time, the initial rush of love, as we all know, settles into something more stable or fades away entirely.  According to the article, scientists are beginning to test folks who've been married for 25 years or longer to see what love looks like in their brains.

Interesting, eh?  I wonder what commitment shows up as on an MRI?  Does it look like the brain while reading a complex and pleasurable novel?  I hope so.  At times, it may look like the brain when one is enjoying comfort food or a warm fire on a winter's day.

And what does it matter, anyway?  If we find out that attraction makes the brain act a certain way, does that negate the attraction?  If we find that married love looks different than infatuation, does that make one better or worse than the other? 

What I really want scientists to look at is why, when I found a new game to download--Mysteries of Horus (no link here...I don't want any other addicts), I can sit for hours matching symbols on the computer screen all for the paltry, pavlovian reaction to seeing the words, "New Record Score" after a round.  Now there's an addiction worth studying.

Saw a wonderful play with Mom last night, "after the quake" based on two short stories by Haruki Murakami.  In one of the interwoven stories, the characters formed a love triangle in college.  It survived even though two of the triangle started dating and later married.  The man in the triangle who was left out talked about dating after the woman he loved married his friend, how he kept himself apart from other women even while in "intimate" relationships with them.

The character's love for the original woman was much more akin to the "settled" love described in the Times article.  He was the addict after the infatuation wore off, which rings true.  She became his drug of choice. 

I love how life brings us these topics in little bundles.  Musings on love and the nature of love.  Nice way to start the week.

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