Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM

Falling in love is ‘more scientific than you think,’ according to new study by SU professor

Monday, October 18, 2010, By News Staff
Share
College of Arts and Sciencesresearch

A new meta-analysis study conducted by Syracuse University Professor Stephanie Ortigue is getting attention around the world. The groundbreaking study, “The Neuroimaging of Love,” reveals falling in love can elicit not only the same euphoric feeling as using cocaine, but also affects intellectual areas of the brain. Researchers also found falling in love only takes about a fifth of a second.

ortigueOrtigue is an assistant professor of psychology and an adjunct assistant professor of neurology, both in The College of Arts and Sciences at Syracuse University.

Results from Ortigue’s team revealed when a person falls in love, 12 areas of the brain work in tandem to release euphoria-inducing chemicals such as dopamine, oxytocin, adrenaline and vasopression. The love feeling also affects sophisticated cognitive functions, such as mental representation, metaphors and body image.

The findings beg the question, “Does the heart fall in love, or the brain?”

“That’s a tricky question always,” says Ortigue. “I would say the brain, but the heart is also related because the complex concept of love is formed by both bottom-up and top-down processes from the brain to the heart and vice versa. For instance, activation in some parts of the brain can generate stimulations to the heart, butterflies in the stomach. Some symptoms we sometimes feel as a manifestation of the heart may sometimes be coming from the brain.”

Other researchers also found blood levels of nerve growth factor, or NGF, also increased. Those levels were significantly higher in couples who had just fallen in love. This molecule involved plays an important role in the social chemistry of humans, or the phenomenon ‘love at first sight.’ “These results confirm love has a scientific basis,” says Ortigue.

The findings have major implications for neuroscience and mental health research because when love doesn’t work out, it can be a significant cause of emotional stress and depression. “It’s another probe into the brain and into the mind of a patient,” says Ortigue. “By understanding why they fall in love and why they are so heartbroken, they can use new therapies.” By identifying the parts of the brain stimulated by love, doctors and therapists can better understand the pains of love-sick patients.

The study also shows different parts of the brain fall for love. For example, unconditional love, such as that between a mother and a child, is sparked by the common and different brain areas, including the middle of the brain. Passionate love is sparked by the reward part of the brain, and also associative cognitive brain areas that have higher-order cognitive functions, such as body image.

Ortigue and her team worked with a team from West Virginia University and a university hospital in Switzerland. The results of the study are published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine. Ortigue’s research is also featured in the current issue of Discover, and media outlets in the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Mexico and Belgium.

Ortigue worked on the love study with colleagues Francesco Bianchi-Demicheli (Geneva University Psychiatric Center, Switzerland), James Lewis (West Virginia University), Nisa Patel (graduate student in SU’s College of Arts and Sciences) and Chris Frum (West Virginia University). Ortigue’s follow-up study about the speed of love in the human brain is expected to be released soon.

  • Author

News Staff

  • Recent
  • Take Back The Night 2023: It’s More Than a Night, It’s for a Lifetime
    Monday, March 20, 2023, By News Staff
  • Your Participation Can Boost the ’Cuse
    Monday, March 20, 2023, By Shaina M. Hill
  • Winners Announced in Graduate Dean’s Research and Creative Works Competition
    Monday, March 20, 2023, By Diane Stirling
  • Internship Funding Award Empowers Students to Experience
    Monday, March 20, 2023, By News Staff
  • Newhouse Postdoctoral Scholar to Co-Lead Summer Institute
    Thursday, March 16, 2023, By Madelyn Geyer

More In STEM

Rare Isotopes Help Unlock Mysteries in the Argentine Andes

Every second the Earth is bombarded by vast amounts of cosmic rays—invisible sub-atomic particles that originate from things like the sun and supernova explosions. These high-energy, far-traveled cosmic rays collide with atoms as they enter Earth’s atmosphere and set off…

SyracuseCoE Faculty Fellows Program 2023 Call for Proposals: Research and Technology Seed Funding Available

SyracuseCoE is seeking applications for its 2023 Faculty Fellows program. Proposals are invited from faculty researchers for innovative research and development efforts in SyracuseCoE’s focus areas: Healthy and efficient buildings Clean energy Resilient, low carbon communities Funding amounts of up…

ECS Students Attend the 2023 Lockheed Martin Ethics in Engineering Competition

Engineering and Computer Science (ECS) students Eric Silfies ’23, Brady Arruda ’25, Oliver Raycroft ’25, Max Lipinski ’24 and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Professor Alex Deyhim recently visited the Lockheed Martin (LM) Center for Leadership Excellence in Bethesda, Maryland, for…

Rock-Solid Data: Friendship Helps Lead to Discovery of Tectonic History of Subglacial Antarctica

A trove of ancient rocks collected from glacial moraines has literally revealed the deep story of one of the most underexplored environments on the planet—the rocks and mountain belts hidden beneath the East Antarctica Ice Sheet. Before this study, scientists…

Engineered Magic: Wooden Seed Carriers Mimic the Behavior of Self-Burying Seeds

Before a seed can grow into a tree, flower or plant, it needs to successfully implant itself in soil—a delicate and complex process. Seeds need to be able to take root and then remain protected from hungry birds and harsh…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2023 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.