The neural correlates of many emotional states have been studied, most rece
ntly through the technique of fMRI. However, nothing is known about the neu
ral substrates involved in evoking one of the most overwhelming of all affe
ctive states, that of romantic love, about which we report here, The activi
ty in the brains of 17 subjects who were deeply in love was scanned using f
MRI, while they viewed pictures of their partners, and compared with the ac
tivity produced by viewing pictures of three friends of similar age, sex an
d duration of friendship as their partners. The activity was restricted to
foci in the medial insula and the anterior cingulate cortex and, subcortica
lly, in the caudate nucleus and the putamen, all bilaterally. Deactivations
were observed in the posterior cingulate gyrus and in the amygdala and wer
e right-lateralized in the prefrontal, parietal and middle temporal cortice
s. The combination of these sites differs from those in previous studies of
emotion, suggesting that a unique network of areas is responsible for evok
ing this affective state. This leads us to postulate that the principle of
functional specialization in the cortex applies to affective states as well
. NeuroReport 11:3829-3834 (C) 2000 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.