Nonlinear Biomedical Physics Blog

From miliseconds to 'till death pulls apart'

  W. Klonowski (2004)  put forward the hypothesis that important difference between feelings (emotional processes) and thoughts (rational processes) is in the characteristic time scales of those two kinds of brain processes and that this may be modeled using methods of nonlinear  dynamics. Like any complex dynamical system human brain is characterized in any moment by momentary values of its state variables and so the brain state may be characterized by a point in a multi-dimensional phase space with appropriately defined coordinates. Then psycho-physiological processes in the brain may be represented by some trajectories in this space. Since psychophysical processes occurring in the brain continuously change brain’s phase space, rational processes that are much slower than emotional processes take place in the phase space that in the meantime was modified by emotional processes.

      To analyze influence of differences in time-scales both rational and emotional processes were modeled on a two-dimensional lattice and on extremely simplified two-dimensional phase space of the brain. When a stimulus changes emotional state then after a sufficiently long time the state of consciousness may eventually also be changed - the subject becomes alerted (aware of the feeling). For example, falling in love does happen as quickly as an involuntary reflex of hand withdrawal when one touches a very hot surface - only after a while one becomes aware that the touched surface was really hot; similarly, what does reach the consciousness is not the emotion of falling in love but awareness of this emotion (W. Klonowski, 2009).

      By reviewing  across a wide range of brain research that used fMRI a team of scientists lead by Stephanie Ortigue (2010) recently revealed that falling in love really takes only about a fifth of a second and that it can elicit not only the same euphoric feeling as using cocaine, but also affects intellectual areas of the brain. When a person falls in love, 12 areas of the brain work in tandem to release euphoria-inducing chemicals such as dopamine, oxytocine, adrenaline vasopressine, and  nerve growth factor (NGF). These results do confirm that popular saying about lovers ‘there is a chemistry between them’ does have a scientific basis and that long-lasting love differs a lot from falling in love. The study also demonstrates that different types of love involve distinct cerebral networks - passionate love is sparked by the reward part of the brain and also associative cognitive brain areas,  while unconditional love, such as that between a mother and a child, is sparked by the common and different brain areas, including the middle of the brain. These results also help in understanding while when love doesn’t work out, it can be a significant cause of emotional stress and depression. By identifying the parts of the brain stimulated by love, doctors and therapists can better understand the pains of love-sick patients. Ortigue’s follow-up study about the speed of love in the human brain is expected to be released soon. 

Wlodzimierz Klonowski

Founding Editor Nonlinear Biomedical Physics

Posted by Wlodzimierz Klonowski at 09:01    Comments (0)