Dr. Wendy After Dark

Dr. Wendy After Dark

Listen to Dr. Wendy Walsh on Sundays from 7 PM to 9 PM on KFI AM 640.Full Bio

 

The Kissing Brain

Ever notice when you experience an intense positive emotion it typically involves another person? While "negative" emotions such as sadness typically occur when we are alone, "positive" emotions occur around other people like family, friends, or romantic partners.

A new study was conducted according to Psychology Today. The scientist used advanced mobile EEG technology to record the brain waves of romantic couples while they were actually embracing each other, kissing each other, and while they listened to emotional speech about their love prepared by their partner. The brain waves in these emotional situations were contrasted with neutral control conditions. For embracing, participants had to embrace a body pillow instead of a partner and for kissing they had to kiss their hand. For speech participants had to listen to weather report instead of the emotional text prepared by their partner.

The EEG data showed that positive emotional situations with a partner, in particular kissing each other and listening to a romantic speech, involved stronger brain activation in the frontal part of the hemisphere of the brain compared to a neutral control condition. This falls in line with finding that positive emotions are primarily processed by the left side of the brain. In a contrast, negative emotions are primarily processed by the right side of the brain.

This study confirms that the butterflies and emotions we feel when we experience love are valid. Scientifically your body is reacting and it genuinely makes you happy. Let's all fall in love and give kisses!


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