Högskolan i Skövde

In the field of neuroscience, being in love and feeling romantically attached to a partner is described as a dynamic process. Romantic love may be viewed as a motivational system, changing throughout time and place, fluctuating on the interest and motivation of the individual. Early memories and attachment towards a caregiver, lay the foundation for later attachment behavior, also known as attachment styles. In this thesis, an exploratory approach is present. The thesis aims to introduce and describe the neural correlates of romantic love and romantic attachment. Brain regions concerned with reward, emotion and thought processing, such as the reward circuitry network of the brain and the limbic system, are being investigated. So are other brain areas involved in romantic love and romantic attachment. Research findings suggest that brain areas responsible for affection, emotional control, learning, memory and social judgment are all involved in the complex processes of being in love and feeling romantically attached. These findings are represented by the involvement of the frontal lobe, cerebral cortex, limbic system, orbitofrontal cortex, and hippocampus, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), ventral tegmental area (VTA), caudate tail, including the reward pathways of the brain. Distribution and regulation of neurotransmitters such as; vasopressin, oxytocin, dopamine, corticosterone and serotonin are all present in the state of romantic  attachment and romantic love. Overlapping evidence confirms the involvement of the reward circuitry network, together with the limbic system as crucial in the formation and maintenance of a romantic relationship.