Where is love and sex in the brain

Several neuroscience studies seek to discover in which region of the brain love and sex are located. Historically, we have located love in the heart, but scientists have shown that this location is only metaphorical, that is, it is a conceived image. The truth is that both love and sex are in our head, more specifically, in the cortex.

An international study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine (Journal of Sexual Medicine) carried out an important survey of the last 20 researches on the subject. In these studies, surveys of brain activity were carried out while the experimental subjects saw sexual, erotic images or images of their partners in front of them.

The results were different for each image and were then divided into two groups: love (boyfriend or girlfriend, wife or husband) and sexual (erotic or sexual images). With the results it was possible to demonstrate in which specific area of ​​the brain love and sexuality are located.

According to Jim Pfaus, systematic studies like this one had not been produced. The results could indicate that sexuality and love could be in completely different areas. “But it turns out that love and desire activate specific but related areas in the brain.”

Two specific areas are responsible for love and desire (or sexuality): the insula and the striatum (or striatum). The two parts are located close to each other. The insula is a portion of the cortex between the temporal lobe and the frontal lobe, while the striatum lies lateral to the thalamus.

Both love and sexual desire activate different areas of the striatum. The area that is activated by sexual desire is also activated in other pleasurable situations such as eating. While the area activated by love already involves more complex processes, such as processes that are caused or activated when there is reward or pleasure in being valued for something.

So the study came to the conclusion that the passage from desire to love activates different parts of the striatum. And, interestingly, such parts of the striatum are also related to problems such as drug use and abuse.

One of those responsible for the research explains: “Love is actually a habit that is formed from sexual desire as soon as the desire is rewarded. It works the same way in the brains of people who become addicted to drugs.”

References

Stephanie Cacioppo, Francesco Bianchi-Demicheli, Chris Frum, James G. Pfaus, James W. Lewis. The Common Neural Bases Between Sexual Desire and Love: A Multilevel Kernel Density fMRI Analysis. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 2012; 9 (4): 1048 DOI: 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2012.02651.x

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