Head-over-Heels over What?
Dear Berna,
For almost half a year now, this six-foot tall average -looking pastry chef has
been courting me. Since then, never did a week pass without a bouquet of
colorful roses, carefully hand-written letters, and my favorite -- a box of his
scrumptiously made macarons which I can eat for like…forever! Despite his sweet
and gentle acts which, I must admit, make me fall in love, I always
have this question in my mind: To whom do I really feel head-over-heels? To
him or to his macarons?
Love, Carmela ♥
Dear Carmela,
Before voicing out my opinions
on your case, I would like you to think about love. I know that right now, like
most people, your main thoughts on love is what Jack and Rose experienced in
Titanic as it sailed through the Atlantic ocean, or perhaps the love
Shakespeare told us through the stanzas and choruses of his poem about Romeo
and Juliet. However, looking at how people actually live and experience their
lives, love is not only what the different movies, poems, novels, and personal
stories tell us. Deep within our flesh and very physical being, love is
actually another story. And just as how different emotional states and
behaviors are manifested with love, so are they represented in neurobiological
views.
So what is
this inside our bodies that make us experience this so-called “love?” Before
you tell me that it’s your heart, I will tell you about dopamine. Dopamine is a
type of neurotransmitter – a chemical that sends information from one neuron to
another neuron separated by a synapse (Pinel, 2011). Dopamine is involved in
many significant pathways in our nervous system but one of the most known of
which is the mesolimbic pathway sending off projections to the nucleus
accumbens and the cerebral cortex. This neurotransmitter is associated with an
individual's motivation, addiction, attention, as well as lust (Brookshire,
2013). It is considered as the main source of rewards, motivation, and pleasure
in our bodies. With this knowledge, you can infer that engaging in these
behaviors and experiencing these emotional states will then increase dopamine amounts
in your system consequently letting you feel pleasure.
But
what about the macarons? What are you really feeling towards those macarons?
Since I have discussed love in view of dopamine, let me tell you about those
macarons likewise. Dopamine lets you experience pleasure, reward, and
motivation and this is not only confined to being in love. In the same way,
addiction, according to Brookshire (2013), lets you feel pleased and rewarded by consuming particular products
(e.g., drugs, caffeine) or even engaging in certain behaviors (e.g., gambling).
The difference of addiction from being in love is that a naturally-rewarding
experience such as being in love is usually preceded by an appetence or a desire to be in love. In
time, this appetence (e.g., hunger) can gradually decrease which will also
decrease the experience (e.g., being hungry) itself or even lead to the point
of aversion (Esch & Stefano 2005). Artificial rewards like addictive
drugs, on the other hand, requires a build-up of high levels of appetence which
do not easily decrease after consumption. This frustrating fact even increases
the high levels of appetence which causes the person to desire more of this
artificial reward (Esch & Stefano, 2008). This addiction, Carmela, explains your feelings towards the macarons.
Senserely yours, Bernadette
References:
Brookshire, B. (3 July, 2013). Dopamine
is? Is it love? Gambling? Reward? Addiction? [Webpage article]. Retrieved 21
January, 2014.
Esch, T. & Stefano, G.B. (2005).
The neurobiology of love. Neuroendocrinology
Letters, 3(26), 175-192.
Pinel, J.P.J. (2011). Drug addiction and the brain’s
reward circuits. Biopschology (eighth
edition, 383-410). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Photo Credits:
im-horngry.tumblr.com/post/73636594476/
myywishfulthinking.tumblr.com/post/73847517772
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