TABLE 2.
Summary of the brain areas involved in the expression of “love” across species.
| Species (Sex) | How to elicit it (Imaging method) | Neural changes (↗increase/↘ decrease) | References |
| Love and attachment maternal and romantic | |||
| Titi monkey–Plecturocebus cupreus (Males) |
Males involved in long-term pair bond as compared to newly paired males or lone males (PET scan) |
Pair-bonding ↘ nucleus accumbens, ventral pallidum, medial preoptic area, medial amygdala, and the supraoptic nucleus of the hypothalamus, lateral septum |
Bales et al., 2007 |
| Before and 48 h after pair-bonding (PET scan) |
↘ right nucleus accumbens and ventral pallidum | ||
| Titi monkey–Plecturocebus cupreus (Males) |
Newly paired males (1 week) and long-term paired (4 month) as compared to non-paired males (PET scan) |
↗ nucleus accumbens, ventral pallidum, caudate, putamen (“motivational areas”) |
Maninger et al., 2017a |
| Titi monkey–Plecturocebus cupreus (Males) |
Newly paired males (4–8 weeks after pair formation) compared to unpaired males (PET scan) |
↗ lateral septum (D1R binding) | Hostetler et al., 2017 |
| Sprague Dawley Rats–Rattus norvegicus (Females) |
Pup stimulation via suckling (fMRI) |
Mother-infant attachment ↗ nucleus accumbens, caudate nucleus, putamen, prefrontal cortex (“reward pathway”) |
Ferris et al., 2005 |
| Humans–Homo sapiens (Men and Women) |
Deeply involved adults scan presented to the picture of the loved one compared to the picture of a friend (fMRI) |
Romantic love ↗ medial insula, anterior cingulate cortex, caudate nucleus and the putamen ↘ amygdala, posterior cingulate gyrus, right prefrontal, parietal and middle temporal cortices |
Bartels and Zeki, 2000 |
| Humans–Homo sapiens | Mothers presented to pictures of their own compared to a picture of acquainted children, of their best friend and of acquainted adults (fMRI) |
Specific to Maternal love ↗ periaqueductal central gray, lateral orbitofrontal cortex Common to Romantic and maternal love ↗ medial insula, anterior cingulate cortex; caudate nucleus, putamen, the globus pallidus, ventral tegmental area, substantia nigra ↘ amygdala, posterior cingulate cortex, middle prefrontal, inferior parietal, middle temporal cortices, temporal poles, parietotemporal junction, mesial prefrontal cortex |
Bartels and Zeki, 2004 |
| Humans–Homo sapiens (Men and Women) |
Participants intensely in love watching picture of their beloved partner compared to acquaintance. (fMRI) |
↗ ventral tegmental area, caudate nucleus But also for longer-term relationships: mid-insular cortex, right anterior and posterior cingulate cortex |
Fisher et al., 2005 |
| Humans–Homo sapiens | Mother watching videoclips of their child compared to other children. (fMRI) |
Maternal love: ↗ periaqueductal central gray orbitofrontal cortex, anterior insula, and dorsal and ventrolateral parts of putamen. |
Noriuchi et al., 2008 |
| Humans–Homo sapiens (Men and Women) |
Comparison of long-term couples to long-term friendship or familiar neutral (fMRI) |
↗ nucleus accumbens, ventral tegmental area, caudate nucleus, cerebellum, putamen, mid-insula, posterior hippocampus, left, globus pallidus, substantia nigra, raphe nucleus, thalamus, anterior cingulate cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, periaqueductal gray, hypothalamus + increase of nucleus accumbens activation over the years |
Acevedo et al., 2012 |
| Humans–Homo sapiens (Men and Women) |
Newly married couple resented to a picture of partner or neutral acquaintance (highly familiar) at two time points: around the weeding date and approximately 11 months after the wedding | ↗ substantia nigra, left paracentral lobule (PCL); ventral tegmental area, insular cortex, periaqueductal gray, posterior hippocampus, occipital cortex, Septum/fornix region ↘ anterior temporal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, Superior temporal gyrus/angular gyrus |
Acevedo et al., 2020 |
| Humans Homo sapiens (Men) |
Pair-bonded male volunteers presented to pictures of their bond or another women (fMRI) |
↗ nucleus accumbens | Scheele et al., 2013 |
| Humans–Homo sapiens (Men and Women) |
Participants involved in a romantic relationship and very intensely in love, presented to pictures of their partner or a familiar acquaintance (fMRI) |
↗ ventral tegmental area, caudate nucleus (tail), cerebellum, middle orbitofrontal cortex ↘ right amygdala, right accumbens, right medial orbitofrontal |
Xu et al., 2011 |
Names in bold are brain areas regularly found in neural changes related to emotion.