Many people in life have the experience of “love at first sight”. According to surveys, the divorce rate of two people who “love at first sight” is generally low after they get married. So, is there a scientific basis for “love at first sight”?
The phenomenon of “love at first sight” in life
Many people may have been in love many times in their lives, including someone introducing you to someone who is good according to worldly standards. You are dissatisfied and feel that the other person is always unsatisfactory in one way or another.
One day, by chance, on the street, in a gathering of friends or classmates, or in work contacts, you suddenly find that the opposite sex in front of you is the object you want to pursue. Maybe he (she) is not very good-looking. But you just like him (her) and fall in love with him (her) at first sight. In fact, this is because there is an emotional resonance between you, and this resonance is just a feeling in the dark, and it is quite intense, so there is a willingness to actively pursue each other.
At that moment, there is no traditional custom of the man taking the initiative and the woman passive. For fear that the other party will suddenly disappear out of your sight and will never be found again, the two parties will often actively interact with each other for various reasons. This kind of emotional resonance is actually a signal that can be communicated with each other, so love at first sight is the feeling when you see the opposite sex you love.
Love at first sight takes only a few seconds
Research conducted by psychologists from the University of Glasgow in the United Kingdom and Princeton University in the United States shows that it only takes 0.5 seconds to establish a good first impression; a simple greeting is enough to determine the personality of the other person. Researchers at Carleton University in Canada have done an experiment in which they let volunteers quickly browse various web pages, which were selected by the researchers in advance based on their visual impressions. Studies have found that people usually only need to “scan” a web page to get the results of likes and dislikes, and this time is about 0.5 seconds. Moreover, the final conclusion of the volunteers is basically consistent with the visual evaluation obtained by the researchers after careful observation. This research shows that the time required to “love at first sight” is shorter than people think.
An Irish study found that all judgments were made within seconds of seeing a new face. This study is the first time that real dating is used to detect how the brain quickly makes romantic judgments, and it tells us the fact that decisions made quickly seem to be less accurate.
At Trinity College, University of Dublin, psychologist Cooper recruited 78 women and 73 men to participate in speed dating activities, and these volunteers were all single students from Trinity College. But before the event, the researchers let 39 of them watch the photos of the people who are about to attend the dating event and performed MRI scans on them. After that, the researchers asked these volunteers to rank the people in the photos from 1 to 4 according to their likes. At the same time, these volunteers described the cuteness of the people in the pictures. After the appointment, the volunteers filled in the names of the people they wanted to see again.
After comparison, the researchers found that volunteers are really “good at” quickly judging who is interested in them, even based on photos, and the coincidence rate between predictions and actual results reached 63%. Scientists have discovered that in the first few seconds of looking at a photo, the brain seems to be able to calculate how attractive other people are to them.
Psychologists say that the human brain can quickly draw conclusions without any visual clues. Scientists believe that this ability may be formed in the long-term evolution of humans, and people must decide who is worthy of trust in a very short time, because this is related to the survival of the human species.
Love at first sight is determined by the brain and genes
Why do men and women meet at first sight? Scientific research shows that this is all determined by the medial prefrontal cortex of your brain. This brain area plays an important role in “making romantic decisions”. This area is located on the front side of the brain, and it can make a hasty judgment about whether this person is your ideal husband or wife.
In addition, from a genetic point of view, love at first sight also exists. After careful investigation and research, scientists have found that humans can discover objects that complement their genes through smell, taste, sight, touch, and hearing. In other words, people can find the person with the best genetic match. Therefore, when this object appears, no matter what kind of person the other person is, his or her behavior, voice, and smell can make oneself feel happy. This ability is formed in the process of biological evolution and is an instinct.
