Six types of loves differentially recruit reward and social cognition brain areas

Pärttyli Rinne; Juha M Lahnakoski; Heini Saarimäki; Mikke Tavast; Mikko Sams; Linda Henriksson

doi:10.1093/cercor/bhae331

journal article Open Access Aug 01, 2024

Six types of loves differentially recruit reward and social cognition brain areas

Pärttyli Rinne

Juha M Lahnakoski Heini Saarimäki Mikke Tavast Mikko Sams Linda Henriksson

Cerebral Cortex Vol. 34 No. 8 · Oxford University Press (OUP)

View at Publisher Save 10.1093/cercor/bhae331

Abstract

Abstract
Feelings of love are among the most significant human phenomena. Love informs the formation and maintenance of pair bonds, parent-offspring attachments, and influences relationships with others and even nature. However, little is known about the neural mechanisms of love beyond romantic and maternal types. Here, we characterize the brain areas involved in love for six different objects: romantic partner, one’s children, friends, strangers, pets, and nature. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure brain activity, while we induced feelings of love using short stories. Our results show that neural activity during a feeling of love depends on its object. Interpersonal love recruited social cognition brain areas in the temporoparietal junction and midline structures significantly more than love for pets or nature. In pet owners, love for pets activated these same regions significantly more than in participants without pets. Love in closer affiliative bonds was associated with significantly stronger and more widespread activation in the brain’s reward system than love for strangers, pets, or nature. We suggest that the experience of love is shaped by both biological and cultural factors, originating from fundamental neurobiological mechanisms of attachment.

Topics

No keywords indexed for this article. Browse by subject →

References

69

[1]

Acevedo "Neural correlates of long-term intense romantic love" Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci (2012) 10.1093/scan/nsq092

[2]

Applebaum "Love, fear, and the human-animal bond: on adversity and multispecies relationships" Comprehensive Psychoneuroendocrinology (2021) 10.1016/j.cpnec.2021.100071

[3]

Aron "Reward, motivation, and emotion systems associated with early-stage intense romantic love" J Neurophysiol (2005) 10.1152/jn.00838.2004

[4]

Bartels "The neural basis of romantic love" NeuroReport (2000) 10.1097/00001756-200011270-00046

[5]

The neural correlates of maternal and romantic love

Andreas Bartels, Semir Zeki

NeuroImage 2004 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2003.11.003

[6]

Beauregard "The neural basis of unconditional love" Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging (2009) 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2008.11.003

[7]

Bianciardi "Toward an in vivo neuroimaging template of human brainstem nuclei of the ascending arousal, autonomic" (2015)

[8]

in vivo

[9]

Bianciardi Brainstem Navigator (2021)

[10]

Blumenthal "The neurobiology of love and pair bonding from human and animal perspectives" Biology (2023) 10.3390/biology12060844

[11]

Bortolini "The extended neural architecture of human attachment: an fMRI coordinate-based meta-analysis of affiliative studies" Neurosci Biobehav Rev (2024) 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105584

[12]

Are there theory of mind regions in the brain? A review of the neuroimaging literature

Sarah J. Carrington, Anthony J. Bailey

Human Brain Mapping 2008 10.1002/hbm.20671

[13]

Cassell (2021)

[14]

Chiesi "A revised short version of the compassionate love scale for humanity (CLS-H-SF): evidence from item response theory analyses and validity testing" BMC Psychology (2020) 10.1186/s40359-020-0386-9

[15]

Chudasama "The role of the anterior cingulate cortex in choices based on reward value and reward contingency" Cereb Cortex (2013) 10.1093/cercor/bhs266

[16]

Cowen "Self-report captures 27 distinct categories of emotion bridged by continuous gradients" Proc Natl Acad Sci USA (2017) 10.1073/pnas.1702247114

[17]

Curtis "The neurochemistry of pair bonding" Curr Dir Psychol Sci (2003) 10.1111/1467-8721.01224

[18]

Diamond "The neuroimaging of love and desire: review and future directions" Clinical Neuropsychiatry: J Treatment Evaluation (2012)

[19]

A probabilistic MR atlas of the human cerebellum

Jörn Diedrichsen, Joshua H. Balsters, Jonathan Flavell et al.

NeuroImage 2009 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.01.045

[20]

Diedrichsen "Imaging the deep cerebellar nuclei: a probabilistic atlas and normalization procedure" NeuroImage (2011) 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.10.035

[21]

Duarte "Tribal love: the neural correlates of passionate engagement in football fans" Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci (2017) 10.1093/scan/nsx003

[22]

A cortical representation of the local visual environment

Russell Epstein, Nancy Kanwisher

Nature 1998 10.1038/33402

[23]

Epstein "What is the function of the parahippocampal place area? Testing the context hypothesis" J Vis (2009) 10.1167/9.8.963

[24]

The Human Brainnetome Atlas: A New Brain Atlas Based on Connectional Architecture

Lingzhong Fan, Hai Li, Junjie Zhuo et al.

Cerebral Cortex 2016 10.1093/cercor/bhw157

[25]

Fehr "Prototype-based assessment of laypeople’s views of love" Pers Relat (1994) 10.1111/j.1475-6811.1994.tb00068.x

[26]

Fehr "The concept of love viewed from a prototype perspective" J Pers Soc Psychol (1991) 10.1037/0022-3514.60.3.425

[27]

The Neurobiology of Human Attachments

Ruth Feldman

Trends in Cognitive Sciences 2017 10.1016/j.tics.2016.11.007

[28]

Fisher "Romantic love: an fMRI study of a neural mechanism for mate choice" J Comp Neurol (2005) 10.1002/cne.20772

[29]

Fredrickson (1994)

[30]

Fredrickson (2016)

[31]

In vivo

[32]

García-Gomar

[33]

Gallagher "Functional imaging of “theory of mind”" Trends Cogn Sci (2003) 10.1016/s1364-6613(02)00025-6

[34]

Halko "Entrepreneurial and parental love-are they the same?" Hum Brain Mapp (2017) 10.1002/hbm.23562

[35]

Hatfield (2011)

[36]

Häusler "Processing of visual and non-visual naturalistic spatial information in the “parahippocampal place area.”" Sci Data (2022) 10.1038/s41597-022-01250-4

[37]

Hayama "Neural correlates for perception of companion animal photographs" Neuropsychologia (2016) 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.03.018

[38]

Jääskeläinen "Movies and narratives as naturalistic stimuli in neuroimaging" NeuroImage (2021) 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117445

[39]

Jacoby "Localizing pain matrix and theory of mind networks with both verbal and non-verbal stimuli" NeuroImage (2016) 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.11.025

[40]

Klimecki (2017)

[41]

Kringelbach "The human orbitofrontal cortex: linking reward to hedonic experience" Nat Rev Neurosci (2005) 10.1038/nrn1747

[42]

Kuhn (1996) 10.7208/chicago/9780226458106.001.0001

[43]

Lockwood "Anterior cingulate cortex: a brain system necessary for learning to reward others?" PLoS Biol (2020) 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000735

[44]

McGraw "The prairie vole: an emerging model organism for understanding the social brain" Trends Neurosci (2010) 10.1016/j.tins.2009.11.006

[45]

Monosov "Anterior cingulate is a source of valence-specific information about value and uncertainty" Nat Commun (2017) 10.1038/s41467-017-00072-y

[46]

Nagasawa "Oxytocin-gaze positive loop and the coevolution of human-dog bonds" Science (2015) 10.1126/science.1261022

[47]

Noriuchi "The functional neuroanatomy of maternal love: Mother’s response to infant’s attachment behaviors" Biol Psychiatry (2008) 10.1016/j.biopsych.2007.05.018

[48]

Nummenmaa "Bodily maps of emotions" Proc Natl Acad Sci (2014) 10.1073/pnas.1321664111

[49]

Maps of subjective feelings

Lauri Nummenmaa, Riitta Hari, Jari K. Hietanen et al.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2018 10.1073/pnas.1807390115

[50]

Ortigue "Neuroimaging of love: fMRI meta-analysis evidence toward new perspectives in sexual medicine" J Sex Med (2010) 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2010.01999.x

Showing 50 of 69 references

Metrics

13

Citations

69

References

Details

Published: Aug 01, 2024
Vol/Issue: 34(8)
License: View

Authors

P

Pärttyli Rinne

Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Aalto University , Rakentajanaukio 2 C, 02150 Espoo , Finland; AMI Centre , Aalto NeuroImaging, , Magnet house, Otakaari 5 I, 02150 Espoo , Finland; Aalto University , Aalto NeuroImaging, , Magnet house, Otakaari 5 I, 02150 Espoo , Finland

J

Juha M Lahnakoski

Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Brain & Behaviour (INM-7), Research Center Jülich , Wilhelm-Johnen-Straße, 52428, Jülich , Germany; Institute of Systems Neuroscience , Medical Faculty, , Moorenstr. 5, 40225, Düsseldorf , Germany; Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf , Medical Faculty, , Moorenstr. 5, 40225, Düsseldorf , Germany

H

Heini Saarimäki

Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University , City Centre Campus Linna building, 6. floor., Kalevantie 5, 33014 Tampere , Finland

M

Mikke Tavast

Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Aalto University , Rakentajanaukio 2 C, 02150 Espoo , Finland; Department of Computer Science, Aalto University , Computer science building, Konemiehentie 2, 02150 Espoo , Finland

M

Mikko Sams

Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Aalto University , Rakentajanaukio 2 C, 02150 Espoo , Finland; MAGICS–Aalto, Aalto University , P.O. Box 11000 (Otakaari 1 B) , Finland

L

Linda Henriksson

Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Aalto University , Rakentajanaukio 2 C, 02150 Espoo , Finland

Funding

KONE Foundation Award: 202009117

Emil Aaltonen Foundation Award: 240175

Cite This Article

Pärttyli Rinne, Juha M Lahnakoski, Heini Saarimäki, et al. (2024). Six types of loves differentially recruit reward and social cognition brain areas. Cerebral Cortex, 34(8). https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhae331

Six types of loves differentially recruit reward and social cognition brain areas

You May Also Like