1/5th of a Second Might Be All The Brain Power They Can Muster, But Who Among Us Doesn't Want That? 

Yeah, you read the title right.  A blurb on MSNBC just stated it takes all of one fifth of a second to fall in love.  That 12 different impulses fire in the brain, and blam, you’re in love. 

Really.  Love as a 12 step program up there in the gray matter? 

The Syracuse University study prompting the MSNBC story snippet claims when a person falls in love 12 areas of the brain work in tandem releasing chemicals such as dopamine, oxytocin, adrenaline and vasopression.  The feeling impacts cognitive functions such as mental representation, metaphors, and body image.

Love is like being on cocaine or crack.  Compared to the cost of divorce, being a crack addict looks like it would be a hell of a lot cheaper way to go. 

Other researchers found blood levels of nerve growth factor, or NGF.  This allegedly plays a role in the social chemistry of humans.  Perhaps this is why we seem to treat others better and are happier when in love?  Or is it the brain supplying the necessary tools to reach out by pumping us full of nerve growth factor as if to say to our hearts, “Go, you fool!  Go!” 

Would, for example, the angry old man who yells to get off his lawn be happier if he had same angry old woman willing to put out for him on his lawn?  Would the NGF mellow him out around others if there was someone in his life?

The findings reportedly will help therapists and the like figure out what to do with the lovelorn when things do not work out, explaining why some lapse into depression and many wind up with some emotional stress at the very least. 

The study showed that different parts of the brain fall for love.  Unconditional love is sparked by the common and different brain areas, including the middle of the brain and deemed more typical of a mother and child interaction.  Passionate love gets sparked by the reward part of the brain and also associative cognitive brain areas that have higher-order cognitive functions such as body image.

It stands to reason that one has a higher body image when in love, as it means there’s someone out there who likes the physical package.  Does this not provide the external stimuli to help with the internal belief system?  Yes, I am attractive; my stud muffin(ette) tells me so?

But all of this on 1/5^th of a second?  Wow.  And we men who feel ruled by the “little brains” housed in our 501 Jeans worry about premature responses as we fumble with the button fly when this is what hits us?  Twelve brain functions all hammered at once?  How is it that our big heads don’t just explode?  How do adolescents study anything at all in school while riding out the hormonal hurricane that storms within them?

On some level it stands to reason.  There’s always that little jolt when coming upon the person you love that prompts that involuntary smile or what have you.  It’s the impromptu smile recalling past events triggered by whatever innocuous happening sets it off.  It’s that neat feeling watching the other in day-to-day activities and being overcome with feelings of desire in whatever form they may be.  Hell, it’s what makes the sex so great when you are really into the other person.  And it is great.  Crack’s got nothing on that.  Little frisson moments as you watch someone else go about their daily life.  Great stuff.

So that can explain new or fresh love, but how does it sustain?  Consider the neat expressions you see on doddering old couples as they wipe each other’s chins or hold one another’s hand navigating a set of stairs during the waiting room years before punching out.  How do they keep that going?  Does it keep going, or do they drop their crack addiction and settle for self medicating with something else once the phase passes?

To some people it happens again and again.  To others, once, like a swan.  What’s the difference in the wiring for that?  Do Swan’s get put off by the feeling and settle?  You know, do they put down the crack pipe?  Or do they still get that same jolt over and over again from the same crack source?  Do folks who have experienced it multiple times have a different set of synapse firing away up there?  Do they ever experience it?  Or do they become addicted to it and need the newness, over and over again?

And what of the triggers?  Why do some folks always gravitate to a specific physical body style while others have relationships with people of all different configurations?  Likewise, how does it shift over time?  It can’t be all visual or passionate, as there’s love of child, friend, family, as well as significant other.  On line connections alter that terrain by having folks get to know one another through words first.  Simple IM exchanges can trigger the 12 step brain explosion that can result in, “OMG, I think I love you!” in IM speak.  And, of course, if one revealed that in the moment, they likely would result in being blocked by the IMer in question and reported as a stalker.

Is this the great hope of those with less conventional physical attributes by allowing different information sources to get solidified in the brain prior to the visual contact?  (I hope so, given the high mileage rung up on this body.)  Then again, most online interactions have the obligatory swapping of pictures as well as tales of horror stories at people being totally unlike the pictures they sent during the technology-based courtship stage.

Love.  All in 1/5^th of a second jolting 12 receptors into the brain.  No wonder the world has pondered it since the dawn of time.