Heroes Not Zombies

Here’s an interesting piece of research. Viewing pictures of a romantic partner can stimulate the “reward” parts of your brain and reduce your experience of pain.

In this trial the researchers compared three interventions – viewing a photo of your romantic partner, viewing a photo of another attractive person and a standard distraction test. The first and the third of these reduced the pain experienced most, and the parts of the brain “activated” by viewing the romantic partner were not the same as those areas “activated” in the distraction test.

I should just add that in this particular trial the subjects were in the first nine months of a romantic relationship……but, still, it’s interesting to see the demonstration of the impact of love (and desire?) on the pain reducing mechanisms of the brain.