Body map of love: In which area we feel each type of affection, according to science

For many, spring is the season of love, that feeling of affection and personal connection. In a philosophical context, love is a virtue that represents human kindness, compassion, and affection. Love is fundamental in many religions, as in the Christian phrase “God is love.” It can also be described as actions toward others (or toward oneself) based on compassion or affection.

With this human feeling in mind, a team of researchers from the Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering at Aalto University, Espoo, Finlandthey created a a map About the different parts of the body where different types of love are felt and with what intensity they are felt.

“It is notable, though not very surprising, that the types of love associated with close relationships are similar and more experienced,” the philosopher said. Bartelli Ren, who coordinated the study. Doctoral researcher Micky Tavast analyzed the data, while researcher Enrico Gulerian developed the research methods. The project was jointly launched by René and Professor Emeritus Mikko Sams.

The team surveyed participants about their experience 27 different types of loveSuch as romantic love, sexual love, love of parents, friends, nature, God or themselves. The team asked participants where they felt different types of love in their bodies and how strong that feeling was, both physically and mentally.

“Our three most sincere loves Body maps They mentioned in the study that it is “emotional love,” “true love,” and “love of life.”

They added: “As such, the term ‘passionate love’ refers specifically to the most intense experience of love in the typical context of a sexual and romantic relationship. The high anthropomorphic strength of ‘true love’ and ‘love of life’ may reflect the fact that the former represents a general essence.” For the subjective emotional concept of love, “love life” may be related to survival.

Their findings were published in the journal Philosophical psychologyIt suggests that different types of love form a continuum from weakest to strongest. All types were felt strongly in the head, but differed in the rest of the body: some extended only to the chest, others were felt everywhere. Stronger forms of love are felt more widely throughout the body.

With this in mind, to build the map, the researchers collected data from hundreds of participants through… Online survey. The majority of responses came from young women in higher education. Participants were asked to color a silhouette of the body to show where they felt each type of love. They were also asked how different types feel physically and mentally, how pleasant the sensation is and how it relates to touch. Finally, they were asked to rate the closeness between the types of love.

“Love between people is divided into Sexual and non-sexual. “The closest types of love are those that have a sexual or romantic dimension,” says Rene.

“It was also interesting to find a strong relationship between the physical and mental intensity of physical activity Feelings So is he pleasure. “The stronger a kind of love is felt in the body, the stronger it is felt in the mind and the more enjoyable it is,” Ren added.

The scientist explained that the team was fascinated by the fact that all different types of love are felt in the head. “When we move from more intense types of love to less intense types, the sensations in the chest area weaken. It is possible, for example, that love of strangers or wisdom is linked to a cognitive process. Pleasant sensations in the head area are also possible. “This is something that should be investigated further,” Ren said.

“In general, the most subjectively felt areas of physical activation in different types of love are the chest and head, which likely indicates changes in Heart rate, breathing, and facial expressions, including possible redness. On the other hand, the feelings associated with weaker types of love tend to be concentrated in the head.

“This may be because people associate more abstract concepts such as wisdom or morality with the brain and higher cognitive functions,” the researcher said. He also noted that there are cultural differences in love and that the demographics of the study group were related to experience. .of love

“If the same study were conducted in a highly religious community, Love in God It can be the most experienced love ever. Likewise, if people are parents in a relationship, as is the case in our ongoing brain study project, children’s love may be the strongest kind of love.

He concluded: “For Science of loveOur findings suggest that there is significant variation between different types of love, and that it is therefore a conceptual oversimplification to discuss love as if it were a single emotion or feeling state. The context and object of love influence the feeling of love in question. Additional neural and behavioral research may shed light on the extent to which different types of love share similar neural activation patterns and what the relationship is between these patterns and the similarity of emotions associated with different types of love.