Which Brain Chemicals Underlie the Experience of Romantic Love?

The primary chemical underlying romantic love is the neurotransmitter oxytocin. Oxytocin is released during orgasm for both sexes but also during childbirth or nipple stimulation for women. This helps along the biological functions of muscle contractions during birth or lactation for breastfeeding. Experiments with prairie voles have shown that, when the gene for oxytocin is removed, this traditionally monogamous species loses its tendency for pair bonding completely. Scientists strongly speculate the same would happen for humans if oxytocin were blocked. Romantic love may be dependent on just a single brain chemical. In males, vasopressin is also present, playing similar roles to oxytocin. It is thought that the period of oxytocin release is strongest in the first 18 months of romantic love, and trails off afterwards, though never vanishes completely. Sometimes oxytocin is whimsically called "the cuddle hormone". Besides romantic love, oxytocin has also been implicated in social ...  more