{"id":13388,"date":"2009-01-04T16:40:12","date_gmt":"2009-01-04T23:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2009\/01\/04\/yeah-i-think-maybe-i-got-me-a-piece-of-this.html"},"modified":"2009-01-04T16:40:12","modified_gmt":"2009-01-04T23:40:12","slug":"yeah_i_think_maybe_i_got","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/01\/04\/yeah_i_think_maybe_i_got.html","title":{"rendered":"Yeah, I think maybe I got me a piece of this"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Scientists claim that they’ve found some folk for whom romance lasts a lifetime<\/a>, defying the clich\u00e9s and “common sense.”<\/p>\n

\n

A team from Stony Brook University in New York scanned the brains of couples who had been together for 20 years and compared them with those of new lovers. They found that about one in 10 of the mature couples exhibited the same chemical reactions when shown photographs of their loved ones as people commonly do in the early stages of a relationship.<\/p>\n

Previous research suggested that the first stages of romantic love, a rollercoaster ride of mood swings and obsessions that psychologists call limerence, start to fade within 15 months. After 10 years the chemical tide has ebbed away.<\/p>\n

The scans of some of the long-term couples, however, revealed that elements of limerence mature, enabling them to enjoy what a new report calls \u201cintensive companionship and sexual liveliness\u201d.<\/p>\n

The researchers nicknamed the couples \u201cswans\u201d because they have similar mental \u201clove maps\u201d to animals that mate for life such as swans, voles and grey foxes.<\/p>\n

The reactions of the swans to pictures of their beloved were identified on MRI brain scans as a burst of pleasure-producing dopamine more commonly seen in couples who are gripped in the first flush of lust.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Grrrraowr<\/em>rrr …<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThe findings go against the traditional view of romance \u2013 that it drops off sharply in the first decade \u2013 but we are sure it\u2019s real,\u201d said Arthur Aron, a psychologist at Stony Brook. Previous research had laid out the \u201cfracture points\u201d in relationships as 12-15 months, three years and the infamous seven-year itch.<\/p>\n

Aron said when he first interviewed people claiming they were still in love after an average of 21 years he thought they were fooling themselves: \u201cBut this is what the brain scans tell us and people can\u2019t fake that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I can say — having long past those “fracture points,” (we’ll hit 14 years married this year, plus a bit of courting romance prior to that), I love — and am deeply attracted to (hubba-hubba!<\/em>) — Margie as intensely as I was back then. Which is not to say that it isn’t possible to have a long-term, positive, pleasant relationship without being all googly-eyed toward each other all the time, but I’m glad (despite my daughter’s embarrassment) that’s the way we are.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scientists claim that they’ve found some folk for whom romance lasts a lifetime, defying the clich\u00e9s and “common sense.” A team from Stony Brook University in New York scanned…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-love-and-marriage","category-science"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11056,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/04\/17\/better_than_chocolate_evi.html","url_meta":{"origin":13388,"position":0},"title":"Better than chocolate? Evidently not.","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 17-Apr-07 2:55pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Chocolate is more stimulating than kissing. \u00a0Or so some goofy scientists say. Six heterosexual couples in established romantic relationships took part in the study at Middlesex University. Each was fitted...","rel":"","context":"In "Food & Drink"","block_context":{"text":"Food & Drink","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/food-drink"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11726,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/02\/14\/do_something_different_wi.html","url_meta":{"origin":13388,"position":1},"title":"Do something different with your Valentine lovey","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 14-Feb-08 9:26pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Various studies indicate that while it's a good thing to have \"date nights\" with your spouse, it's an even better thing to have \"date nights\" doing something new. The theory...","rel":"","context":"In "Love & Marriage"","block_context":{"text":"Love & Marriage","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/personal\/love-and-marriage"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":44673,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/28\/marriage-isnt-a-right-its-a-way-to-control-heterosexuals.html","url_meta":{"origin":13388,"position":2},"title":"Marriage isn't a right, it's a way to control heterosexuals","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 28-Aug-14 8:41am","format":false,"excerpt":"That seems to be the core argument made by\u00a0Indiana Solicitor General Thomas Fisher before the 7th Circuit. Sure, marriage comes with all sorts of societal and legal benefits, but the state isn't required to extend it to gays because, well, gay couples can already adopt in Indiana, and, those benefits\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46066,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/24\/marriage-is-not-property.html","url_meta":{"origin":13388,"position":3},"title":"Marriage is not property","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 24-Oct-14 11:01pm","format":false,"excerpt":"And we're not talking here about one spouse considering the other as property, but the argument that certain (straight) people own the concept of marriage, and have materially invested in it by getting married, and therefore anyone else who wants to play in the sandbox is not only trespassing but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":131529,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/13\/marriage-in-name-only.html","url_meta":{"origin":13388,"position":4},"title":"Marriage in Name Only","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 13-Sep-16 10:44pm","format":false,"excerpt":"After the Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell that blocking gay couples from marrying was unconstitutional, the initial reaction from lawmakers in conservatives states was defiance. That's largely faded, but a new tactic has come onto the scene that's even more insidious, as exemplified in the story below.Rather than blocking gay\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133866,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/16\/the-dangers-of-climate-change-arent-just-about-the-weather.html","url_meta":{"origin":13388,"position":5},"title":"The dangers of climate change aren't just about the weather","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 16-Jul-17 11:54am","format":false,"excerpt":"Low-oxygen oceans -- caused by algae blooms and similar phenomena that thrive on warmer conditions, slower circulation, and more carbon dioxide -- aren't a good thing. And we have evidence of what that looks like. Originally shared by +Chris Kim A: Using a combination of fossils and chemical markers, scientists\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13388\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}