Fisher et al. (2005)

Question 1

Type of Study

Question 2

Aim

Answer 2

To investigate neurophysiologic correlates of early-stage romantic love.

Question 3

Sample

Answer 3

0 female and 7 male students that were in the early stages of romantic love, average of 7 months

Question 4

Procedure

Answer 4

Participants are interviewed about their relationship to establish the duration, intensity and range of feelings of romantic love. They filled in two questionnaires
one about intensity of passion, other one on general emotional intensity. Participants provided a photograph of the beloved (positive stimulus) and a similar photograph of a familiar, emotionally neutral acquaintance of the same age and sex as the beloved (neutral stimulus). They were fMRI-scanned where they did 4 tasks, repeated 6 times
1. viewed positive stimulus for 30 s
2. performed a count back distraction task
for 40 s
3. viewed neutral stimulus for 30s
4. performed count back task for 20s

They were interviewed again and asked whether they had followed the instructions.

Question 5

Results

Answer 5

• increased activity in the VTA (ventral tegmental area) when participants watched faces of partners compared to neutral faces
  —— VTA is known for being one of the most
  important activators of dopamine pathways. Activity correlated positively with participants’ self-reported levels of passion and degrees of attractiveness of partner.

Question 6

Conclusion

Answer 6

• dopamine system is highly activate in early-stage romantic love – reasonable to conclude that the strong goal-directed behavior, emotions and cognitions in early-stage romantic love are drive by activation of brain’s reward system
• study concludes that love is the activation of dopamine based reward system which leads to emotions such as euphoria, anxiety and wanting these emotions are side effects of wanting to be close to the person we love, rather than wanting to be close as a result of feeling certain emotions

Question 7

Limitation

Answer 7

• culture bias
• laboratory environment
• not a real life situation

Question 8

Strength

Answer 8

• strong evidence that the VTA/dopamine is associated with specific aspects of romantic love
• replicable