The Brain Areas and Structures Discussion
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The Brain Areas and Structures Discussion
Fig. 2. Some of the brain areas and structures discussed in the article. The arrows are guidelines only, and some of the structures are hidden from view.
- Zeki / FEBS Letters 581 (2007) 2575–2579 2577
tions with the frontal, parietal and middle temporal cortex as well as a large nucleus located at the apex of the temporal lobe, known as the amygdala. Increase in activity in the romantic core of areas is mirrored by a decrease in activity, or inactiva tion, of these cortical zones. The amygdala is known to be en gaged during fearful situations and its de-activation, when subjects view pictures of their partners as well as during human male ejaculation, implies a lessening of fear. As well, the all engaging passion of romantic love is mirrored by a suspension of judgment or a relaxation of judgmental criteria by which we assess other people, a function of the frontal cortex (Fig. 3). This cortical zone, along with the parietal cortex and parts of the temporal lobe, has also been commonly found to be in volved in negative emotions. Its inactivation in romantic as well as maternal states – when faced with the loved one – should not therefore be surprising because, when deeply in love, we suspend those critical judgments that we otherwise use to assess people. The prefrontal cortex, the parieto-tempo ral junction and the temporal poles constitute a network of areas invariably active with ‘mentalizing’ or ‘theory of mind’, that is, the ability to determine other people’s emotions and intentions. It is noteworthy, from the point of view of ‘‘unity-in-love’’, that one feature of mentalizing in terms of the ‘theory of mind’ is to distinguish between self and others, with the potential of ascribing different sets of beliefs and de sires to others and to oneself. To obtain an imagined ‘‘unity in-love’’, so that the self and the other are merged, this process of mentalizing, and thus distinguishing between self and the other, must be rendered inactive. But critical judgment of oth ers is also often suspended with the trust that develops between individuals and certainly with the deep bonding that develops between a mother and her child. Here, then, is a neural basis not only for saying that love is blind, but for the concept of ‘‘unity-in-love’’. It is not surprising that we are often surprised by the choice of partner that someone makes, asking futilely whether they have taken leave of their senses. In fact, they have. Love is often irrational because rational judgments are suspended or no longer applied with the same rigour. In Pla to’s Phaedrus, Socrates comments: ‘‘the irrational desire that leads us toward the enjoyment of beauty and overpowers the judgment that directs us toward what is right, and that is vic torious in leading us toward physical beauty when it is power fully strengthened by the desires related to it, takes its name from this very strength and is called love’’. Nor are there moral strictures, for judgement in moral matters is suspended as well. After all, moral considerations play a secondary role, if they play one at all, with Anna Karenina, or Phe`dre, or Emma Bo vary or Don Giovanni. And morality, too, has been associated with activity of the frontal cortex.
Euphoria and suspension of judgment can lead to states that others might interpret as madness. It is this madness that poets