Sorry honey, my first love is the kids! Scientists find that if you ever suspected your partner loved the kids more than you… you’re probably right!
If you’ve ever suspected that your partner loves the kids more than you, you’re probably right.
Scientists looked at brain activity when we experience feelings of affection, and the response appears to be strongest in children.
Using MRI scans, they identified the areas activated by six different types of love, including the emotion for good friends, pets, strangers in need and nature.
But the bond between parent and child was the most powerful and all-consuming, leaving romantic love in second place. In addition to the strongest response, it activated the most brain areas.
If you suspect that your partner loves the children more than you, you are probably right. File Image
Participants’ brain activity was measured as descriptions of love were read to them, including: “You’re seeing your newborn child for the first time.” File image
The researchers recruited 55 people aged 28 to 53 who had at least one child and were in a ‘loving relationship’.
Participants had their brain activity measured as descriptions of love were read to them, including: ‘You see your newborn child for the first time. You feel love for the little one.’ Another read: ‘Your child runs happily towards you on a sunny meadow. You laugh together and the sun’s rays sparkle on their faces. You feel love for your child.’
Brain activity was influenced not only by how close you felt to the object of your affection, but also by whether it was human or not.
Researchers said love for strangers led to much less brain activity than love for parents, romance or friends, which came in third place. Love for pets and nature also led to significantly less activity than that directed at people. Parttyli Rinne, lead researcher from Aalto University in Finland, said: ‘In parental love, there was activation deep in the brain’s reward system in the striatum area during the imagining of love, and this was not seen in any other type of love.’
It is hoped that the findings, published in the journal Cerebral Cortex, will help scientists understand the neural mechanisms of love and thus improve mental health care.