Saturday, October 18, 2008

Love Really is Blind

I just read the October, 6 edition of Newsweek and found a very fascinating article about human brain written under the 'Health for Life' column. The article reveals that scientific studies have proved that emotions, pain, sexual feelings, love and religious belief are actually products of our brain. However, the finding about one of the brain products: love, amazes me most. Here is the extract about it taken from the article:

"And there is scientific evidence that love really is blind; romantic love turns down or shut off activity in the reasoning part of the brain and the amygdala. In the context of passion, the brain's judgment and fear centers are on leave. Love also shuts down the centers necessary to mentalize or sustain a theory of mind. Lovers stop differentiating you from me."

So, the famous qoute "Love is Blind" has a very literal meaning. It is not a metaphor anymore!

Sharing is the real love

Note: Photo taken during my visit to Malaysia Agriculture, Horticulture and Agrotourism Exhibition (MAHA) 2008 in Serdang, Selangor few months ago

Amygdala - a cluster of nerve cells sits under its corresponding temporal lobe on either side of the brain. Like a network hub, it coordinates information from several sources. It collects input from the environment, registers emotional significance and when necessary mobilizes a proper response. It gets information about the body response to the environment from the hypothalamus. It communicates with the reasoning areas in the front of the brain and it connects with the hippocampus, an important memory center. (This description of amygdala is also taken from the same article)


11 comments:

Anonymous said...

ohh dah lama ada blog baru nak link aku! kecik hati!

Anonymous said...

and "Shahrill the jambu"??????? IM NOT REALLY THAT JAMBU! LOL

Naz said...

Shahrill: Aku mmg lama dah ada blog ni tapi tak aktif.... Ni baru nak aktif balik... baru dlm seminggu lepas aku aktifkan balik...

marmalade said...

hey i spoke on the science of love for our public speaking during dpa =) hahahahahahah! i hope i caught someone's attention lah even i do feel sometimes it is a dry subject. but who could turn down love eh? =)

Naz said...

Mel: Betul tu, who can turn down love?! Hehe!

papaYA said...

Bak kata Mala dalam blog nya, "Cinta tak semestinya memiliki"..
I agree on that.. ;)

marmalade said...

yaya: oh yeah i ada ckp mcm tuh eh? i ada short term memory tau. hahahahah. i SAID alot of things in my blog.

Naz said...

Tergelak baca komen Mel kat atas... Short term memory loss, mcm Dory dalam citer Finding Nemo tu... Comel!

Amri said...

Love is blind eh? No wonder...

Can I define 'shuts down the centers necessary to mentalize or sustain a theory of mind' as 'hilang pertimbangan'? Haha

Amri said...

Uh btw, Shahril is so in denial!

Naz said...

Am: Hilang pertimbangan- the most right words i think!
Shahrill mmg camtu, x nk nagku yg dia tu jambu.. terpaksa aku tukar jambu tu kepada banker