• Question: What part of the brain controls emotion and love?

    Asked by anon-204593 to Sally, Lucy, James, David, Dan on 13 Mar 2019.
    • Photo: Dan Taylor

      Dan Taylor answered on 13 Mar 2019:

      I think we had a similar questions about love and hate so I won’t repeat myself too much. But I think the limbic system is really important in emotion – it controls a lot of reward/punishment areas of the brain a lot of chemicals like serotonin and dopamine (makes you happy and gives you that “feel good hit”) are important to this area so it’s easy to see how this area may play a role in emotions. There are also areas like the amygdala which control fear and stress responses (the more “negative” emotions). The hormone oxytocin is also really important as this can facilitate pair bonding (the thing that makes you want to spend time with someone). Oxytocin is important for all kinds of love – parents release a lot of it when a baby is born – platonic, familial and long term romantic love are all effected by oxytocin.

    • Photo: Sally Tilt

      Sally Tilt answered on 13 Mar 2019:

      Dan’s is a great answer – as he says there are quite a few areas that seem to be involved. I’d add that it is useful to ask the question ‘why would humans have evolved to feel love?’ It can be a pretty overwhelming feeling – and therefore it is likely to be there to drive us to act in particular ways.

      When you think about it, the people that we hook up with for relationships, are absolutely key to continuing and developing as a species, so it is perhaps not surprising that there are some pretty strong drivers which lead us to build these relationships. Similarly, caring for babies and children is also really important for our species – so ensuring that we feel very strongly about cute babies (even when they are a bit noisy) is a really helpful emotion.

    • Photo: David Chadwick

      David Chadwick answered on 13 Mar 2019:

      Sorry but I have no idea 🙁

    • Photo: Lucy Maddox

      Lucy Maddox answered on 14 Mar 2019:

      Dan’s given a great answer here – and I agree it’s important to think about networks of brain areas – it’s usually more than just one bit involved in something.

    • Photo: James Munro

      James Munro answered on 15 Mar 2019:

      Hey Helen 🙂 – I’m copying in an answer from a very similar question here:

      Scientists have different definitions of “love” – but an easy one to understand is that it is a mix of libido (desire for sex), attachment (becoming sort of dependent on someone) and partner preference (men, women, other, anything). When a person wants to have sex with and becomes attached to a person they like – their brain starts releasing chemical signals. These signals, in the form of dopamine and hormones like testosterone, make the body and mind feel good about that person. Scientists think at least two parts of the brain control this – the insula (which helps us do things on instinct) and the anterior cingulate cortex (which makes us feel really amazing). So when we fall in love, these brain areas reward us for spending more time with, or thinking about our love interest. NOTE: This is just one broad explanation of love. Love is perfectly possible without sexual desire, attachment or partner preference. It is complex and different for everyone.

      Dan hit upon a lot of good points. Emotion can be thought of as a reward / punishment process. Feeling good emotions make you want to repeat whatever you did to feel them. Feeling bad emotions make you want to avoid whatever you did to feel them. He gives all the details I would give in his answer 🙂

      Thanks!

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