Fisher et al. (2005)

Title

reward, motivation, and emotion systems associated with early-stage intense romantic love

Background

romantic love is associated with certain biological, cognitive, and behavioral changes and is considered goal-directed; dopamine, an excitatory neurotransmitter is involved in motivation, in controlling the brain's reward and pleasure centers in regulating emotional responses

Aim

to investigate neuropsychologic correlates of early-stage romantic love

Participants

10 women and 7 men were recruited via word of mouth from the student population of Stony Brook University, in New York state.

All reported being in early stages of romantic love (range=1-17 months, average=7)

Procedure

the participants were interviewed about their relationships to establish duration, intensity, and range of the feelings of romantic love.

the participants also filled in two questionnaires, one about the intensity of passion and one on general emotional intensity.

participants provided a photograph of the beloved (positive stimulus) and a similar photograph of an emotionally neutral acquaintance of the same age and sex as their beloved (neutral stimulus).

participants were scanned in fMRI machines in which they did four tasks, six rounds.

- for 30s the participant viewed the positive stimulus

- for the following 40s the participant performed a countback distraction task (counting backwards from 700 in steps of 7)

- for the following 30s the participant viewed the neutral stimulus

- for the following 20s the participant performed the countback task

(total of 12 minutes)

- the participants were finally interviewed and asked whether they had followed the instructions (they said they had)

Results

there was increased activity in the VTA (ventral tegmental area) and caudate nucleus when the participants watched the faces of their partners compared to the neutral faces.

both these regions are known to be the most important activators of dopamine pathways.

the activity correlated positively with participants' self-reported levels of passion and degree of attractiveness of partner.

Conclusion

the dopamine system of the brain is highly activated in early stages of romantic love.

the strong goal-directed behaviors, emotions, and cognitions in early-stage romantic love are driven by activation og the brain's reward system.

the activation of such pathways leads to such emotions; therefore, dopamine activity in the brain plays a role in romantic love

Method

laboratory (true) experiment

IV: photo of positive stimulus vs. neutral stimulus

DV: increased activity in brain regions

Critical thinking: methodological considerations

strengths:

- cause and effect relationship

- increased control and accuracy

- objectivity

- standardization

- internal validity

limitations:

- total control = impossible

- artificial

- biased results

- ethics (protection from harm)

Critical thinking: alternative explanations

as it cannot be guaranteed that the participants thought about their significant other/neutral acquaintance for the entire duration of the experiment, other thoughts may have provoked activity in the VTA and caudate nucleus

Critical thinking: gender bias

as both men and women were used in the experiment, there is no gender bias in this study

Critical thinking: ethical considerations

the study was ethical because there was informed consent, they were debriefed, their identities remained confidential, they were not deceived, and could withdraw while they were protected from mental and physical harm

Critical thinking: cultural considerations

the study is culturally biased because the participants were all gathered from the same university in New York (although the ethnicity or background of the participants was not mentioned)

Critical thinking: applications

the results of this study may be useful for evaluating the existence of romantic feelings for another person (possibly useful in couples therapy to determine attraction)

How does this study demonstrate localization of function?

the results suggest that the dopamine system (VTA and caudate nucleus) is highly activated during early stages of romantic love

How does this study demonstrate techniques used to study the brain in relation to behavior?

by using an fMRI, the researchers were not only able to view the structure of the brain, but also the changing state of these different parts of the brain due to the analysis of oxygenated blood flow

How does this study demonstrate neurotransmitters and their effect on behavior?

as the dopamine system was activated during this experiment, the neurotransmitter, which is correlated with emotional response, displays a strong relationship with the emotions and behaviors resulting from the activation of the reward system