Kissing: Its Effect on the Brain

Since it's Valentine's Day, I thought I'd share something I've written about in the past about the effects of kissing on the brain. Anthropologist Helen Fisher, author of numerous books, including:

• Why Him? Why Her?: Finding Real Love By Understanding Your Personality Type
• Why We Love: The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love 
• Anatomy of Love: A Natural History of Mating, Marriage, and Why We Stray 
• The First Sex: The Natural Talents of Women and How They Are Changing the World

indicates that kissing may produce:

• Lust (by driving up the testosterone)
• Romantic love (by driving up the oxytocin)
• Deep feelings of attachment (by driving up dopamine)

All of this evidently helps to either bring a couple together in the first place or to keep it together after time has passed.

In this brief video Helen Fisher discusses the effect of kissing on the brain:


If you experience difficulty viewing the video here on the blog, please click here to view it on the original CBS website