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Agathe Tall
The second contrast identified neural regions associated with analgesia resulting from viewing pictures of a romantic partner, distinct from distraction analgesia. Analgesia (pain reduction) during the partner task was determined by subtracting pain ratings in the partner trials from pain ratings in the baseline acquaintance trials. Degree of analgesia was also calculated for the distraction task, by subtracting pain in distraction trials from pain in the acquaintance trials. To determine the neural responses specific to analgesia caused by viewing pictures of a romantic partner, analgesia was entered as a covariate in the second-level analysis, yielding a contrast map of all BOLD increases and decreases significantly associated with pain relief. The contrast map also masked out any significant BOLD responses associated with distraction analgesia, to identify only those analgesia responses specific to viewing pictures of a romantic partner. By reversing the distraction-analgesia mask, a separate map was also created to show analgesia-associated BOLD responses occurring in both the partner and distraction tasks.
Our first goal was to determine if viewing pictures of a romantic partner activates reward and limbic regions of the brain, even during periods of moderate- and high-intensity pain. We found a main effect for the romantic partner task on BOLD response in several reward and limbic regions. Viewing pictures of a romantic partner activated reward processing areas such as the amygdala (stimulus reward value learning) [26], hypothalamus (reward-stimulus associations) [27], pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (reward-related cognition) [28], and medial orbitofrontal cortex (hedonic experience processing) [29]. Several additional limbic regions, such as the precuneus, mid-cingulate, and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex were also associated with the viewing of romantic pictures. Because the contrast map controlled for both: 1) viewing pictures of an equally attractive and familiar acquaintance, and 2) distraction, the observed activations were likely specific to feelings evoked by the pictures of a romantic partner.
BOLD activity decreases were also observed with the romantic pictures task, and were localized mostly in pain-processing regions. Activity was suppressed in both the left and right posterior insula, areas responsible for sensory processing of pain [30]. BOLD activity was suppressed in the left ventral lateral nucleus of the thalamus, suggesting early-stage suppression of nociceptive signals [31]. Activity in the stimulus-contralateral premotor cortex was also suppressed, suggesting further reduction of pain processing [32]. Not all regions showing depressed BOLD activity were associated with classic pain-processing regions. Regions showing an activity decrease, but not typically connected to the pain experience, included the left inferior frontal cortex, and right frontopolar area.
As suggested by previous behavioral research, viewing pictures of a romantic partner effectively reduced self-reported pain [16]. We found that BOLD increases in several reward system regions were associated with greater pain relief during the partner task. Associations between pain relief and activations in the bilateral caudate head and nucleus accumbens were seen, identifying aspects of both the classic mesolimbic and nigrostriatal reward pathways. Furthermore, regions known to modulate reward processing, such as the amygdala, lateral orbitofrontal cortex, and dorsolateral cortex, were associated with pain relief. Many of those regions are commonly identified in reward-related neuroimaging tasks [33] and make up a corticostriatal network of reward processing [34], [35].
The reward-system activity we observed to be associated with pain relief during viewing of romantic partners was unlikely to be a general effect of analgesia, as an equal amount of pain relief evoked by a distraction task showed little engagement of reward systems. Distraction analgesia was associated with mainly cortical activations, and in many regions previously associated with the distraction task used [19]. The results suggest that there are multiple routes by which cognitive tasks can reduce pain, with emotion-based and distraction-based analgesia being two such possibilities. However, it is also true that the experience of pain relief itself can also serve as a rewarding experience. The nucleus accumbens [46] and amygdala [47] can be activated during various experiences of pain relief [48]. Placebo analgesia in particular has been associated with increased opioid transmission in a range of reward systems, including the orbitofrontal and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices, nucleus accumbens, and amygdala [49]. In the present study, pain relief resulting from both the partner pictures and distraction task activated an overlapping region of the right lateral orbitofrontal cortex. Therefore, the two types of analgesia were found to have largely separate, but somewhat overlapping, neural substrates.
While we have focused our discussion on reward systems, it is certainly true that the experience of viewing pictures of a beloved involves complex motivational, evaluative, memory, and other processes [2], [7], [53], [54]. Viewing pictures of a romantic partner is likely to be a more active process than the simple, passive experience of a rewarding state. While we attempted to control for active processes with the distraction task, it may not be possible to delineate and experimentally control all the aspects of the partner task. Several of the regions activated by the love task have been associated with other processes in fMRI tasks. The precuneus, for example, has been linked to episodic memory [55], perhaps indicating activation of memories linked to the picture. The region of the mid-cingulate we identified has been associated with visuospatial attention [56]. And, several of the regions identified (orbitofrontal cortex, hypothalamus, and amygdala) have also been observed during sexual arousal, especially in males [57].
Some methodological issues limit interpretation of the results. First, while participants retrospectively reported high attention to the tasks, there was no objective measure of task adherence or performance. Individuals paying close attention to the tasks would likely experience greater analgesia. It has been previously demonstrated that the suppression of neural pain processing activity is dependent on behaviorally-measured task performance [58]. Future studies may include a measure of task-attention (e.g., eye tracking). A second limitation is that the small sample size precluded the analysis of gender differences in the romantic partner analgesia effect. Third, demands characteristics could play a role in the observed analgesic responses. Six out of the fifteen participants correctly guessed the purpose of the experiment. If those individuals determined the purpose of the experiment early in the session, their self-reported pain may have been affected. Fourth, despite our attempts to control for attractiveness, it is likely that participants found their partner more attractive than their acquaintance. Some of the reward-processing regions we identified were also reported in a previous study examining BOLD response to attractive faces [17].
Surprisingly, we found no regions that showed both a main effect for the love task and a correlation with degree of analgesia. It is therefore not possible for us to determine what structure or system is critical for love-induced analgesia. The results also demonstrate that there is considerable individual variability in the analgesia experienced when looking at pictures of a beloved. The observed variability could be due to attention to the task, or could be a feature of the relationship (e.g., degree of obsession with the partner, or strength of the relationship).
List of regions associated with viewing pictures of a romantic partner during pain. All significant clusters are seen in aggregated moderate- and high-pain trials. Parts (a) and (b) show main effects of the romantic partner task on regional BOLD increases and decreases, using conjunction analyses to control for both the acquaintance and distraction tasks. Parts (c) and (d) show BOLD changes that were significantly correlated with pain relief during the romantic partner task, controlling for distraction analgesia. Left is heat ipsilateral, right is heat contralateral. Reported clusters survived a voxel-level, uncorrected p
The world recently bid a solemn farewell to the man believed to be responsible for arguably the most romantic photo ever taken. Glenn McDuffie, who claimed to be the sailor in the Times Square kissing photo taken during a celebration after the World War II victory, was 86 when he died. Through an act of sheer joy when he was much younger (and thanks to a camera man positioned at exactly the right place and time), McDuffie left behind an iconic image that will forever move us to experience all the feelings.
What other popular photos have a way of sparking romantic inspiration within us? The pictures below are incredible not only for the images themselves, but additionally for what they represent, the compassion they evoke and the lessons they teach us about unconditional love.
Flashing forward, the pair got married in December of 2015 and later became parents to Santiago on June 19, 2018. Of course, it's the little details in between that make their love story so sweet - scroll through to get them all!
Using [11C]raclopride, a dopamine D2/D3 receptor antagonist, we undertook a positron emission tomography (PET) study to investigate the involvement of the dopaminergic neurotransmitter system when subjects viewed the pictures of partners to whom they were romantically attached. Ten subjects viewed pictures of their romantic partners and, as a control, of friends of the same sex for whom they had neutral feelings during the PET study. We administered [11C]raclopride to subjects using a timing for injecting the antagonist which had been determined in previous studies to be optimal for detecting increases in the amount of dopamine released by stimulation. The results demonstrated statistically significant activation of the dopaminergic system in two regions, the medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) and medial prefrontal cortex, the former of which has been strongly implicated in a variety of rewarding experiences, including that of beauty and love. A positive correlation was obtained in mOFC between excitement levels and dopaminergic activation only in the love but not in the control condition.
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