Romance and commitment in middle age
For most couples, the butterflies of early romantic love eventually disappear. But brain scan studies show that couples in lasting relationships can achieve something even better.
Bianca Acevedo, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara, performed scans on the brains of 17 long-married men and women who claimed to still be passionately in love after an average of 21 years of marriage.
While in the scanner, the subjects looked at pictures of their spouse as well as two friends. Compared with the reaction when looking at others, seeing the spouse activated parts of the brain associated with romantic love, much as it did when couples who had just fallen in love took the same test.
But in the older couples, researchers spotted something extra: parts of the brain associated with deep attachment were also activated, suggesting that contentment in marriage and passion in marriage aren’t mutually exclusive.
“They have the feelings of euphoria, but also the feelings of calm and security that we feel when we’re attached to somebody,” said Dr Acevedo. “I think it’s wonderful news.”
