London: Enjoying an artistic masterpiece may give you the same pleasure as being in love, a new study has claimed. Researchers at the University College London found that the same part of the brain that is excited when you fall in love is stimulated when you stare at great works of beauty.
Viewing art, the researchers said, triggers a surge of the feel-good chemical dopamine, into the orbito-frontal cortex of the brain, resulting in feelings of intense pleasure. Dopamine and orbito-frontal cortex are both known to be involved in desire and affection and in invoking pleasurable feelings in the brain. It is a powerful effect often linked with romantic love and illicit drug taking.
In a series of pioneering brain-mapping experiments, the researchers led by Semir Zeki scanned the brains of volunteers as they looked at 28 pictures. They included 'the Birth of Venus' by Sandro Botticelli, 'Bathing at La Grenouillere' by Claude Monet and Constable's Salisbury Cathedral'.
Zeki found that blood flow increased in areas of the brain usually associated with romantic love.
The study, which will be published later this year, suggested that art could be used to increase the welfare and mental health of the general public and should be protected from budget cutbacks, the researchers said. Previous research has shown that art can reduce suffering in hospital and lead to speedier recoveries.
Source: The Times Of India, Bangalore (Tuesday, May 10, 2011)
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