“When you first fall in love, you are not experiencing an emotion, but a motivation or drive, new brain scanning studies have shown.

The early stages of a romantic relationship spark activity in dopamine-rich brain regions associated with motivation and reward. The more intense the relationship is, the greater the activity.

The regions associated with emotion, such as the insular cortex and parts of the anterior cingulate cortex, are not activated until the more mature phases of a relationship, says Helen Fisher, an anthropologist from Rutgers University in New Jersey.” —New Scientist This is an absurd finding, only meaningful to those who believe there is a hard-and-fast distinction between ‘motivation and reward’ and ’emotion’ and that these global aspects of experience are localized to small specific brain regions.