Love

The word “love” means different things to different people, and in different contexts.

We might say we love our significant other, our parents, our pets, or a particularly delicious cupcake.

We might love our hometowns, our favorite sports teams, or a TV show we can’t stop binging.

Researchers have delved into this concept for generations, but only over the past few decades have we had the neuroscience and necessary technologies to more deeply understand and explain what’s going on in our brains and bodies when we experience some version of love.

Part of what we’ve learned, so far, is that there are different flavors of the concept, and these different flavors activate different parts of the brain.

One recent study, for instance, found that there are six distinct types of love that can be differentiated based on what portions of the brain they activate, and thus, which reward and cognitive centers they trigger.