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. 2010 Dec 31;5(12):e15802.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0015802.

The brain reaction to viewing faces of opposite- and same-sex romantic partners

Semir Zeki  1 , John Paul Romaya
Affiliations

The brain reaction to viewing faces of opposite- and same-sex romantic partners

Semir Zeki et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

We pursued our functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies of the neural correlates of romantic love in 24 subjects, half of whom were female (6 heterosexual and 6 homosexual) and half male (6 heterosexual and 6 homosexual). We compared the pattern of activity produced in their brains when they viewed the faces of their loved partners with that produced when they viewed the faces of friends of the same sex to whom they were romantically indifferent. The pattern of activation and de-activation was very similar in the brains of males and females, and heterosexuals and homosexuals. We could therefore detect no difference in activation patterns between these groups.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Schematic diagram showing a short typical stimulus subsequence.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Illustration of the t statistic for the contrast Loved > Neutral showing selected activations superimposed over averaged anatomical sections (the average of the 24 subjects in our sample).
Random effects analysis with 24 subjects. Background threshold puncorr<0.001. Cluster threshold kE> = 10. (A) Medial sagittal plane (x = 0) showing activations in the tegmentum, hypothalamus and vermis. (B) Sagittal plane x = −12 (LH) showing activation in the caudate head, anterior cingulate and parietal cortex. (C) Horizontal plane z = −30; right cerebellum. (D) Horizontal plane z = −9; mid insula, left hemisphere.
Figure 3
Figure 3. SPM maximum intensity projection (MIP) of the t statistic for the contrasts Neutral > Loved (A) and Baseline>Loved (B) obtained from a random effects analysis with 24 subjects.
Background threshold puncorr.<0.001.
Figure 4
Figure 4. De-activations with love.
Contrast estimates for Neutral > Loved at the locations listed as significant in Table 3 are shown in black. At each of these locations the corresponding contrast estimate for Baseline > Loved is shown in grey.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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