Have you ever felt the feeling of butterflies gradually rising from your stomach along with the sudden surge of excitement, joy, and tingly feeling across your body? Well, that sign could mean many things: a virus infecting your stomach, bacteria surrounding your body, or the thing we call "kilig moments"—feelings that we usually get from experiencing pure love and joy.
A study focusing on the analysis of neuroimaging (human studies) has found that the ventral tegmental area (VTA) is active in both passionate romantic love and maternal attachment, indicating shared brain/reward circuitry. The so-called reward of the brain functions when the circuitry, along with the VTA and caudate nucleus and other dopaminergic areas, sees a person whom you have feelings for—deep or simple—causing lights and fireworks to burst inside your body, creating a bond through your mind and the image of someone you love or are infatuated with.
If you ever find yourself in a situation where you long for someone taller, handsome or pretty, intelligent, who knows how to cook, and who knows how to bond with children like you do, it is not just a feeling your mind and imagination come out of, it offers a broad understanding of how seeking out someone’s presence, emotional connection, and being distressed when separated correlate to the scientific understanding of having your true love.
According to the 2022 study about young adults, the strongest predictors of whether an attraction or a “crush” would develop into a dating relationship are not solely seeking physical attractiveness but rather forming relational and attachment-type behaviors for having "the one." Giving value to the saying, “Looks are just the small bonus; the whole gift is what’s on the inside.”
Another phenomenon also states that when the mind repeatedly sees a person, it increases the chances of the brain starting to like the person, forming the “mere-exposure effect.” So the next time you joke around about liking a person and continuously seeing them, beware; you might actually do so. When the brain starts to feel comfortable around a person, it forms a high tendency that your heart will also do the same, causing the heart and brain to fall for them, in short, liking them.
From joking around to falling in love, science has its way around. When your brain starts to crush on someone, remember, it is not just a gut feeling that urges you to like them; it is the brain that transforms your chemistry into your very own love mystery. It is just not in your head—it is in your brain.
Written by Kenneth Estrella Sayat, Insight PH
Kenneth Estrella Sayat, Insight PH is a dedicated campus journalist and contributor. Their insightful writing sparks meaningful conversations and keeps the community informed.
