The Insula and the Striatum

On Valentine's Day, a quick look at the biology of love.

Lot of different theories on V-Day depending on where you are in the great relational roller coaster — some love it, some hate it, some utterly indifferent towards it. (I’m married, but more the latter than anything else.) I thought it was interesting back in my mid-20s single days to check out dive bars on V-Day because you see a lot of really emotional over-drinking, which seems like a cliche but ultimately really isn’t.

Ultimately, while love defines pretty much everything — even if you don’t end up in a relationship, your love for/bonds to your family are going to be important in shaping who you become and how you become it — it’s still essentially a physical process. Poets and authors can describe it in flowing terms, and that’s great for society — but, being in love and forming connections of that nature are still biological, brain-linked events: