Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China.
Department of Psychology, School of Humanities, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China.
Brain Imaging Behav. 2020 Dec;14(6):2771-2784. doi: 10.1007/s11682-019-00226-0.
Romantic love is a complex state that has been seen as similar to addiction. Previous task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have shown that being in love is closely associated with functional brain changes in the reward and motivation system. However, romantic love-related functional connectivity network organization in resting-state fMRI has yet to be elucidated. To that end, here we used resting-state fMRI and graph theory to compare whole-brain functional network topology between an "in-love" group (n = 34, 16 females, currently in love and in a romantic relationship) and a "single" group (n = 32, 14 females, never in love and not in a romantic relationship). Compared to the single group, we found lower network segregation in the love group (i.e., lower small-worldness, mean clustering coefficient, and modularity), and these metrics were negatively associated with scores on the Passionate Love Scale (PLS) (an index of intense passionate/romantic love). Additionally, the love group displayed altered connectivity degree (reflecting the importance of a node): decreased degree in left angular gyrus and left medial orbitofrontal cortex, but increased degree in left fusiform gyrus. Furthermore, local efficiency or degree of these regions was significantly correlated to PLS scores. Taken together, results showed decreased overall brain functional segregation but enhanced emotional-social processing in romantic lovers. These findings provide the first evidence of love-related brain network organization changes and suggest similar but different brain network alterations between romantic love and addiction, providing new insights on the neural systems underlying romantic love.
浪漫的爱情是一种复杂的状态，被认为类似于上瘾。以前基于任务的功能磁共振成像 (fMRI) 研究表明，恋爱与奖励和动机系统的大脑功能变化密切相关。然而，浪漫爱情相关的静息态 fMRI 功能连接网络组织尚未阐明。为此，我们使用静息态 fMRI 和图论比较了“恋爱中”组（n=34，女性 16 人，目前正在恋爱并处于浪漫关系中）和“单身”组（n=32，女性 14 人，从未恋爱且没有浪漫关系）之间的全脑功能网络拓扑结构。与单身组相比，我们发现恋爱组的网络分离度较低（即小世界性、平均聚类系数和模块度较低），这些指标与激情爱情量表 (PLS) 评分呈负相关（强烈的激情/浪漫爱情的指标）。此外，恋爱组还显示出连接度（反映节点的重要性）的改变：左侧角回和左侧内侧眶额皮质的连接度降低，但左侧梭状回的连接度增加。此外，这些区域的局部效率或度数与 PLS 评分显著相关。总之，结果表明浪漫恋人的整体大脑功能分离度降低，但情感社会处理能力增强。这些发现提供了与爱情相关的大脑网络组织变化的第一个证据，并表明浪漫爱情和成瘾之间存在类似但不同的大脑网络改变，为浪漫爱情的神经基础提供了新的见解。
