當我們墜入愛河時大腦會發生什麼
資料來源：Michael Merzenich博士 / 2022 年 2 月 10 日 / Medscape / 財團法人台灣紅絲帶基金會編譯
正如吟遊詩人所說，「愛是一件非常美妙的事情」。 恰當地，這句話來自莎士比亞的十四行詩，而不是他的戲劇。 雖然，作為一名科學家，我可以談論愛情的大腦化學，但我也確信愛情可以像化學一樣充滿詩意。
隨著情人節的臨近，讓我們來看看與愛相對應的大腦化學過程，以及我們可以做些什麼來為愛和被愛做準備。
當你墜入愛河
當你墜入愛河時，就好像在大腦中釋放了一場化學風暴。 大腦的神經調節系統正在迅速排出大量的多巴胺 (dopamine) 和正腎上腺素(亦稱去甲腎上腺素， noradrenaline)。 正是這種化學爆炸讓你感到興奮和溫暖。
多巴胺是一種與獎勵相關的大腦化學物質。 這是大腦調整到一些應該強調和記住的好結果的方式。 在這種情況下，當我從你那裡得到一些美妙的東西時，多巴胺就會被釋放——就像我在我們稱之為愛的協會中所做的那樣——或者，當我有幸給你一些東西時。 愛是對美好事物的相互給予和接受。
由於這一切的新鮮和興奮，同一個系統正在釋放正腎上腺素。 這是大腦強調有一些新奇的事情應該引起注意的方式。 它讓你感覺更明亮，更有活力。 在你的生活中，幾乎沒有什麼時候比墜入愛河的時候更能讓你感到活力四射了。
渴望你的愛人
隨著關係的加深，與愛情相關的快樂會讓你渴望更多。
多巴胺的妙處之一是它最初只在興奮時釋放，但隨後大腦足夠聰明，可以在興奮之前釋放它——期待擁抱、親吻或出現深愛的人。
在連接之前，你實際上開始感到溫暖。 這有助於你渴望它。 它成為一種癮。 你想再次見到那個人——再次聯繫。
我應該讓你知道，這些化學系統也會影響你所愛的事物。 也許您真的很喜歡在辛苦工作了一天之後來一杯馬提尼酒。 最初，這是因為它讓您感覺（更放鬆）的方式，但過了一段時間後，您會從第一口中獲得一些放鬆的感覺——遠在酒精發揮作用之前——因為您對其效果的預期。
但是，我們不要透過將愛的衝動與我們所愛的事物的較小衝動進行比較來貶低愛的強度。
隨著愛的成熟
隨著關係的成熟，它變得不僅僅是一種癮。 它變成了一種「執著」，它以兩種方式出現。
第一個是，當你真正與某人建立關聯時——當你真的因為和那個人在一起而得到回報時——大腦會釋放催產素 (oxytocin)。 催產素有助於讓人感覺與你在一起的人是值得信任的，是應該與你合而為一的人。 發生化學鍵合。
這也是父母與孩子之間的一種紐帶。 它發生在兩個人之間，他們是如此積極和持續地聯繫在一起，以至於他們形成了一種化學鍵——無論是當他們在一起時，還是當他們想到彼此時。
發生的第二件關鍵事情與你如何培養自我意識有關。 你透過自我參照來成長它。 當我感覺到某事時，當我行動時，當我思考時，我不斷地將那種感覺、行為或思想與其源頭聯繫起來，而那個源頭就是我，從中我創造了我的「自我」。
然而，同樣的過程會產生對任何與你密切相關的事物的強烈依戀。 還有什麼比你所愛的人更接近你，對你來說更強大？
這樣做的結果是，你的大腦——透過它的可塑性（它在化學、結構和功能上重組的能力）——將你所愛的人成長為你的「自我」。 那個人成為你的一部分。 最終，你被束縛了，你在你的大腦中結婚了——就像你可能在生活中結婚一樣。
為愛準備大腦
了解這些過程如何在大腦中發揮作用，能否幫助我們對愛更開放、更有愛心？ 我們可以為愛做準備嗎？
首先，你要鍛煉大腦機器。 你想確保機器處於控制正腎上腺素和多巴胺釋放的強大形式。 你可以通過充滿興奮、驚喜、挑戰和有趣時刻的生活來做到這一點。 你想過一種充滿回報和新奇的生活。
控制獎勵發放的一種方法是成為獎勵者。 你是慷慨的代理人。 每次你善待某人，每次你同情某人，你也會釋放多巴胺。
鑑於我在構建基於可塑性的大腦練習方面的研究，我必須補充一點，您可以在 BrainHQ （註）中使用我們的電腦化練習，因為這些練習對這種神經調節機制有很大的作用。
然而，你也可以在日常生活中大量運用這種機制——做一個積極、有愛心、慷慨的人。 我強烈推薦。 過一個充滿活力的生活，充滿有趣和驚喜的事情，做一個積極、有愛心、慷慨的人。 而且，當愛來到你身邊時，你會做好充分的準備去回應它。
當然，你也可以等著被丘比特的箭射穿心臟——在某個地方——等著給你驚喜。 因為那也可能發生。 準備好迎接驚喜。為了愛。
邁克爾·梅策尼希 (Michael Merzenich) 博士經常因發現終身可塑性而受到讚譽，他是第一個利用可塑性造福人類的人（在他共同發明的人工耳蝸中），並開創了基於可塑性的電腦化大腦鍛煉領域。 他是加州大學舊金山分校的名譽教授和神經科學的卡夫里獎獲得者，並獲得了美國國家科學院、工程院和醫學院的榮譽。 他最廣為人知的可能是公共電視上一系列關於大腦的特別節目。 他目前的重點是大腦鍛煉應用程式 BrainHQ。
Medscape 神經病學 © 2022 WebMD, LLC
以上表達的任何觀點均為作者個人觀點，不一定反映 WebMD 或 Medscape 的觀點。
引用：當我們墜入愛河時大腦中會發生什麼 – Medscape – 2022 年 2 月 10 日。
（註）BrainHQ 是一種大腦鍛煉應用程式，是您鍛煉大腦的線上總部。 可以把它想像成一個私人健身房，在那裡你可以鍛煉你的記憶力、注意力、大腦速度、人際交往能力、智力和導航能力，而不是你的腹肌、三角肌和股四頭肌。 正如我們的身體在一生中需要呵護和鍛煉一樣，我們的大腦也是如此。 BrainHQ 為您的大腦提供最敏銳的鍛煉。
What Happens in the Brain When We Fall in Love
Michael Merzenich, PhD / February 10, 2022 / Medscape
As the Bard said, “Love is a many splendored thing.” Appropriately, that quote is from Shakespeare’s sonnets, not his plays. Although, as a scientist, I can talk about the brain chemistry of love, I am also certain that love can be as much poetry as chemistry.
With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, let’s look at both the chemical brain processes that correspond with love, and what we can do to prepare for love and to be loving.
When You’re Falling in Love
When you are falling in love, it’s as though a chemical storm has been unleashed in the brain. The brain’s neuromodulatory system is rapidly pumping out large quantities of dopamine and noradrenaline. It’s that chemical explosion that makes you feel excited and warm all over.
Dopamine is a brain chemical associated with reward. It’s the brain’s way of adjusting to some good result that should be accentuated and remembered. In this case, dopamine gets released when I receive something wonderful from you — as I do in the association we call love — or, when I have the pleasure of giving you something. Love is a mutual giving and receiving of something wonderful.
The same system is releasing noradrenaline because of the newness and excitement of it all. It’s the brain’s way of accentuating that there is something novel going on that should be noticed. It makes you feel brighter and more alive. There is almost no time in your life when you feel more alive than when you are falling in love.
Craving Your Beloved
As the relationship deepens, the pleasure that you associate with love makes you crave more.
One of the wonderful things about dopamine is that it is initially only released at the time of the excitement, but then the brain is smart enough to release it in advance of the excitement — in anticipation of the hug, the kiss, or the presence of the beloved.
You actually begin to feel warm before the moment of connection. That contributes to you craving it. It becomes an addiction. You want to see that person again — to connect again.
I should let you know that these chemical systems also kick in over things you love. Perhaps you really enjoy a martini after a hard day at work. Initially, it’s because of the way it makes you feel (more relaxed), but after a while you get some of that feeling of relaxation from the first sip — long before the alcohol has done its job — because of your anticipation of its effects.
But let’s not belittle the intensity of the rush of love by comparing it with the smaller rushes from things we love.
As Love Matures
As the relationship matures, it becomes more than an addiction. It becomes an “attachment,” which arises in two ways.
The first is that when you really connect with someone — when you are really rewarded by being in that person’s presence — the brain releases oxytocin. Oxytocin contributes to the feeling that the person with you is trusted, is someone who should be one with you. A chemical bonding occurs.
This is also the kind of bonding between a parent and child. It occurs between two people who are so positively and continuously connected that they form a chemical bond — both when they are together and when they think of one another.
The second critical thing happening relates to how you grow your own sense of self. You grow it by self-reference. When I feel something, when I act, when I think, I am continuously associating that feeling, act, or thought to its source, and that source is me, and from that I create my “self.”
However, the same processes work to create a strong attachment to anything that is positively and strongly close to you. And what is closer to you, what is stronger to you, than someone you love?
The consequence of that is that your brain — through its plasticity (its ability to reorganize, chemically, structurally, and functionally) — grows that person whom you love into your “self.” That person becomes a part of you. Ultimately, you are bonded, you are wedded in your brain — just as you may be wedded in life.
Preparing the Brain for Love
Can the knowledge of how these processes play out in the brain help us be more open to love and more loving? Can we prepare for love?
First of all, you want to exercise the brain machinery. You want to make sure the machinery is in a powerful form that controls the release of noradrenaline and dopamine. You do that by living a life full of excitement, surprises, challenges, and interesting moments. You want to live a life that is full of reward and novelty.
One way you can control the delivery of reward is by becoming the rewarder. By you being the generous agent. Every time you are kind to someone, every time you are sympathetic to someone, you also release dopamine.
Given my research in building plasticity-based brain exercises, I have to add that you can use our computerized exercises in BrainHQ, because those exercises work this neuromodulatory machinery quite heavily.
However, you can also exercise this machinery heavily in everyday life — by being a positive, loving, generous person. I strongly recommend that. Live a life full of vitality, full of interesting and surprising things, and be a positive, loving, generous person. And, when love comes your way, you’ll be fully ready to respond to it.
Of course, you can also just wait to be struck through the heart by that arrow from Cupid — somewhere out there — waiting to surprise you. Because that can happen too. Be ready for the surprise. And for love.
Michael Merzenich, PhD, is often credited with discovering lifelong plasticity, with being the first to harness plasticity for human benefit (in his co-invention of the cochlear implant), and for pioneering the field of plasticity-based computerized brain exercise. He is professor emeritus at UCSF and a Kavli Laureate in Neuroscience, and he has been honored by each of the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. He may be most widely known for a series of specials on the brain on public television. His current focus is BrainHQ, a brain exercise app.
Medscape Neurology © 2022 WebMD, LLC
Any views expressed above are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of WebMD or Medscape.
Cite this: What Happens in the Brain When We Fall in Love – Medscape – Feb 10, 2022.