Family Law

Can Brain Activity Help Us Understand A Happy Marriage?

By ckramer

Researchers are growing increasingly interested in trying to pinpoint what makes long-term marriages make it. A recent article from The New York Times lays out some research into the brain activity of happily married couples and those that don?t make it.

One thing scientists do know is that it is very difficult to determine how long a marriage will last unless you are in the marriage. A study by Robert Levenson, a director of psychophysiology laboratory at the University of California, Berkley, demonstrated that people who viewed married couples arguing were only able to accurately predict which marriages would end in divorce half the time.

In another, researchers looked at the brain scans of long-term couples for insight into what kinds of emotional attachments between couples make for a successful marriage. Researchers surveyed long-term married couples, and found that 40% still had this romantic association.

Researchers knew what the brain waves of couples who were recently smitten with each other looked like, and were surprised that long married couples had this type of brain activity. In addition, many of the long-term relationships also had the part of the brain associated with deep attachment activated.

According to the main researcher, Dr. Brianca Acevedo, the fortunate couples that had the strong romantic associations and deep attachment ?have the feelings of euphoria, but also the feelings of calm and security that we feel when we?re attached to somebody? I think it’s wonderful news.?

Are there any tricks to keeping a relationship feeling fresh while building that security?
Studies show that couples that have new experiences, as opposed to merely following a routine, are typically happier. The theory is that these new experiences activate dopamine and mimic the brain chemistry we experience when we recently fall in love. Having new experiences, like going new places or starting a new hobby, with your significant other can help keep the feelings you had when you first met.

When a relationship of 40 years of more ends, according to Dr. Betsey Stevenson, it?s important to look on the bright side. Dr. Stevenson described the relationship of Al and Tipper Gore by saying, ?They had 40 years of marriage, and they had what, by many dimensions, should be considered a successful marriage? The fact that they both can look forward and see a promising future by not being married? [is] somewhat a celebration about how much optimism they have for the rest of their lives.?

Full post as published by The Divorce Blog on June 14, 2010 (boomark / email).