How your brain interprets the feeling of "I'm in Love" A THREAD...

So, first off, a disclaimer. Humans are rather complex entities so our behaviour doesn't purely conform to set patterns of neurons firing. Second, there is a HUGE social component to love which I am not touching https://twitter.com/Doye_A_Doyen/status/1300797971630620672

From the biological point of view when you become attracted to someone what is responsible are a group of Neurochemicals we call Endorphins and a MAJOR one we call Dopamine. The person of interest starts out by successfully triggering a significant release of these.

Outwardly, this may be they caught your eye by their stunning looks, or you had a really gr8 conversation or a fun date etc. That's where it all starts. Now, in this state, a group of Neurons in your brain we call the "reward circuit" get triggered. Their job is to get u pleasure

The reward circuit neurones are scattered all around your brain but they all work together for 1 purpose: to get you to do things that you find pleasurable. Now, your person of interest has triggered them, and thus, they want more. This is the basic basis of everything else u do.

Now, at this point behaviour is modified to ensure you get more triggers, most common manifestations are you move to spend more time with the subject of interest (talks, calls, walks etc). With each great time you have, Dopamine is released and the behaviour reinforced as "good".

This process continues, but not only that. Your brain is rather efficient so doesn't want to keep having to actively do it, so with time, it copies this behaviour that is "good" into the autopilot system (we call: basal ganglia) and you simply enter "can't do without you mode"

Now, in this autopilot mode, you find that you almost compulsively seek out the object of interest. And this is often great in the case of requited love. If not (stalker alert! ). Now next is to talk about some of the symptoms d man alluded to (e.g. butterflies)

These things start in your brain, you think of the person, or see/hear a stimulus. This info is sent to a place called the Amygdala (part of Mr Reward Circuit). This releases a small chemical called CRF, which causes Adrenaline to be produced. THIS, is responsible 4 looseguarding

Butterfly in stomach = reduced blood flow to the gut
Blush = increase blood flow to the face
Increased heart rate = adrenaline pushing the heart to run faster. It's all from your head

THIS GUY in Ife's thread claims to have "fallen out of love" and technically it's possible. Sort of. But it often is because either one or both parties has killed novelty off. I will wrap up by talking about a subset of people who THIS IS KEY FOR THEM.

There are some people who have a variation in a gene called DRD4 (dopamine receptor), which gives them a high trigger threshold, simply put they need novelty and they actively seek it, to keep them satisfied. These people studies suggest, may be prone to infidelity or falling out

Thank you for reading. I hope you found it fun to understand yourself a bit better and why you do what you do. Feel free to share with others. Please note. Humans are a lot more complex and thus this is super simplified. Cheers.

When engaged in romantic love, the neural machinery (from the amygdala to nucleus accumbens) responsible for making critical assessments of other people, including assessments of those with whom we are romantically involved, shuts down. This is d neuronal basis 4 "Love is blind"