If you’ve ever suspected that your partner loves the kids more than you, you’re probably right.
Scientists analyzed brain activity: when we experience feelings of affection, children elicit the strongest response.
They used MRI scans to identify areas activated by six different types of love, including emotion for close friends, pets, strangers in need and nature.
But the bond between father and son was the most powerful and absorbing, relegating romantic love to the background. In addition to being the strongest response, it activated most regions of the brain.
If you suspect that your partner loves children more than you, you are probably right. File image
Participants’ brain activity levels were measured while they were read descriptions of love, including: “You see your newborn child for the first time.” File image
The researchers recruited 55 people, aged 28 to 53, who had at least one child and were in a “loving relationship.”
Participants’ brain activity levels were measured as they were read descriptions of love, including: “You see your newborn child for the first time. You feel love for the little one.” Another read: “Your child runs happily towards you in a sunny meadow. You smile together and the sun’s rays shine on your face. You feel love for your child.”
Brain activity was influenced not only by how close one felt to the love object, but also by whether it was human or not.
The researchers said that love for strangers generated much lower brain activity than parental, romantic or friend love, which came in third place. Love for pets and nature also generated significantly lower activity than love directed towards humans. Parttyli Rinne, lead researcher at Aalto University, Finland, said: “In parental love, there was a profound activation of the brain’s reward system in the striatum area while imagining love, and this was not observed in any other type of love.”
The findings, published in the journal Cerebral Cortex, are expected to help scientists understand the neural mechanisms of love in order to improve mental health care.