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Helen Fisher used MRI and other brain imaging techniques to examine both romantic love and
long-term attachment, says that "it's a new idea to accept that there are even brain systems
associated with love in the first place."

We found activity in some cells called the A10 cells, cells that actually make dopamine, a
natural stimulant, and spray it to many brain regions. Indeed, this part, the VTA, is part of the
brain's reward system. It's way below your cognitive thinking process. It's below your emotions.
It's part of what we call the reptilian core of the brain, associated with wanting, with motivation,
with focus and with craving. In fact, the same brain region where we found activity becomes
active also when you feel the rush of cocaine.

But romantic love is much more than a cocaine high - at least you come down from cocaine.
Romantic love is an obsession, it possesses you. You lose your sense of self. You can't stop
thinking about another human being. Somebody is camping in your head. Wild is love.
And the obsession can get worse when you've been rejected.

The first stage of romantic love is a bit like a drug addiction

Fisher distinguishes the early torrent of romantic love and the longer-term, calmer attachment
phase that follows. She found that a brain in the initial stage of love looks surprisingly like a brain
experiencing a drug addiction.

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"When we put people who've just fallen happily in love into a brain scanner, we find heightened
activity in a few different brain regions," she says. "The big ones are the ventral tegmental area
— the VTA — and the caudate nucleus." The scans compared participants' brains when looking
at photos of their lovers, versus photos of random acquaintances. And participants who'd
scored higher on a survey that measured feelings of love, moreover, had proportionately more
activity in the VTA and caudate nucleus.

These are both core parts of the brain's reward system: areas that release the neurotransmitter
dopamine to other parts of the brain, triggering feelings of pleasure. Heightened activity in the
VTA in particular has been associated with all sorts of addictions — whether nicotine, alcohol,
heroin, or gambling — with each dose causing a fresh spike of dopamine.

This, Fisher says, explains the feeling of obsession many people experience when falling in love.
"It's what gives you the elation and the craving that is basic to romantic love." She sees the early
stages of love as more of a drive to be fulfilled — like hunger and thirst — than a stable,
permanent emotion.