| blelcy i WORLD | Sales the BBC international magazine and programme guide for radio and tv | £2 | €3.10| US$3.70 | july 2004WHAT.IS LOVE? ‘Love expert, author and presenter of BBC World Service Love series Dr Helen Fisher has studied the nature of love extensively. In her recent research, she has focused) on the drive for romantic love and presents ‘some conclusions here ~ hat 's to love?” Shakespeare asked. The great bard was not the fist to wonder. suspect our ancestors pondered this question @ milion years ago as they lay and watched the stars ‘There are many kinds of love. But | have come'té believe that during ou long evolutionary past, humanibeings evolved thee basic brain networks for loving as they courted, mated Teproduced and reared thet young: lst, romantic ataction ‘and attachment, And as days tumed into centuries and ri weeded out those who failed to reprodute, natural selection hardwired these thre distinct systems into the human brain Each brain syste i associated with a difefent set of primary neurochemicals and brain, networks Lust ~ the! craving for sexUal grlfication — is aBsbciated primerly with testosterone in both men and women, Romantic traction = the elation, heightened energy, obsessive thinking, focused tention and yearning of new fésh love — is associted ith ‘elevated brain activities of dopamine and norepinephrine, natural stimulants, and low activity of 2 related brain chemical serotonin. And. attachment — thescalm and ‘motional union one often feels wth along term partner — {S associated with oxytocin and vasopressin, Moreover, each ofthese bran networks evohted to ect 2 diferent aspect of human reproduction. Lust dvs US tO copulate with almost any remotely appropriate partner Romantic atrton (romantic lve, cbsessive ove or being in love) evolved to motivate us to prefer and pursue specfic ‘mating partners, thereby conserving precious courtship time and energy. And feelings of attachment evolved to enable Tew parents to remain together at least long enough to rear a child though infancy. "When nature makes|ajgood design she uses it over and ‘over, And it le that almost all types of human love — from love of ove to brotherly lve to al the ther subtle varieties of human love — are variations of these = = three basic brain systems, mixing in myriad ways with one. another and with other brain networks. ‘The bran system | am studying is romantic lve. | began ~ by calling from the scientific ltereture those mental and Physical ris that people regularly express when they are madly injjove: Nex, | established that people everynhere, from ae eingasane ‘and Chinese to contemporary Tenzanians, Eskimos and” Arabspexpress, these tats. From. these preliminary investigations, | concluded that romantic sen * love is a universal experience ~ deeply embedded in the human brain. ; | developed my hypotheses about the brain chemistry ofthis passion. Last, with collaborators Br Lucy L Brown, DreAthur Aron and several others, | used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (WRI) to scan the brains of more than'40 men and women who were aly in love. Half were loved in return; the rest had recently been tejected by someone they adored ‘The results were remarkable. When lovers gaze at ajphoto of a beloved, they experience increased actvty in tiny ‘factory near the base of the brain that produces and dstibutes dopamine to many brain regions. Dopamine is associated with excessive energy, elation focussed attention and the motivation to win rewards — basic Wis of rernantic love. We aso found acti in several other brain region rch in dopamine receptors and basic to the brain's reward system. These results changed my thinking about romantic lve: this pasion s a funderiillnan mating dive. Ubithe ‘craving fr food, romantic love is @ powerul physidogicel need, an urge, a motivation! an instinct that < ‘Romantic love is a \ universal experience — deeply embedded in the } human brain’ specially 10 enable men and women to court and win a prefered mating parte Indeed, the dive to love i tonger | the sex dive. Few people kil themselves when denies them sex; many have commited suicide after being rejected by a beloved. ‘Our scanning team’also found gender differences. Male subjecs showedimore acy in a brain region associated With the integration of visual stimu. This makes evolutionary sense: For millons of years ancestral males needed to visually appraise a female's ability to bear healthy young. Women showed more activity in brain regions essocated with memory recall. This, too, has evolutionary logic Ancestral females needed to choose mates who could provide and protec. So females needed to remember what 2 lover ie