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Between the roses, the Champagne and the chocolates, couples sit down to an intimate candlelight dinner, stare soulfully into each other's eyes and perhaps take a moment to ponder a perennial question: Can this mad, mad love last?
恋人们在玫瑰香槟巧克力围绕、深情对望、共进浪漫烛光晚餐的时刻，或许也还会花些时间想一个永恒的问题：这种感情是一时冲动吗？这种爱是否会持续？
Whether they're in the heady throes of their fifth date or their 20th year of marriage, the answer, according to a recent study published in the online journal Social Cognitive and Effective Neuroscience, lies more in the neural patterns of their brains than in the poetry of their heart-shaped gifts.
根据最近发表在网络期刊《社会认知与使用神经学（Social Cognitive and Effective Neuroscience）》上的一份研究，无论他们是第五次约会，还是结婚20周年了，这个答案更多的是取决于他们大脑中的神经模式，而不是他们所准备心形礼物中的诗意。
In the study, Bianca Acevedo and Arthur Aron at Stony Brook University in New York and two co-authors set out to investigate the age-old question that has baffled so many: Can the intense, heady head-over-heels romantic love experienced in the first flush of a relationship endure over time?
在研究中，斯托尼布鲁克纽约分校的比安卡•阿塞维多和亚瑟•阿伦及另外两位作者着手调查了这一由来已久又困扰许多人的问题：这种完全出于一时兴起的强烈的浪漫爱情关系能否随着时间的推移持续下去？
To attempt to find out, they used functional magnetic resonance imaging to scan the brains of 10 women and seven men who claimed they were still "madly" in love with their spouse, even after an average of 21 years of marriage. Each viewed a picture of his or her beloved, and control pictures, including a close friend and lesser-known acquaintances. Brain activity was measured as participants looked at the facial images.
为了调查这一结果，他们使用了功能性磁共振成像的方法，扫描了10名女性和7名男性的脑部，他们的平均婚龄已有21年了，但都表示自己对另一半仍充满爱意。每人在实验中观看他或她爱人的照片，以及一位亲近朋友和不是太熟的熟人的对照图片时，大脑活动就被记录下来。
The researchers then compared these brain scans with those of people from an earlier experiment who said they'd fallen in love within the past year. They found the scans looked a lot alike.
之后，调查员将这次的结果与那些一年之内恋爱的参与者的早期实验结果进行比较，他们发现扫描结果十分相近。
There were differences -- long-term romantic love lit up many more brain regions than early-stage love -- but both groups showed significant activity in the dopamine-rich ventral tegmental area.
也有一些不同——长期的浪漫爱情会比短期爱情调动大脑的更多区域，但是两组都检测到了多巴胺富集的腹侧被盖区的重要活动。
"For some, when they look at their partner, it looks almost as if their brain is on fire," said Acevedo.
阿塞维多说：“当看到他们的配偶时，其中的某些人的大脑看起来像着火一样。”
The VTA -- which is a crucial part of the brain's motivation and reward circuit -- also illuminates in response to food, money, alcohol and cocaine.
腹侧被盖区是大脑中激励与奖励回路的重要部分，对食物、金钱、酒精和可卡因也会有反应。
The dopamine-laden VTA had already shown activity in six previous studies of those in early-stage love -- in relationships ranging from three weeks to 17 months -- but the Stony Brook study was the first to ever associate the VTA with long-term love. Acevedo and Aron take this as evidence that romantic love can endure.
之前六项有关恋爱3周到17个月的短期爱情的研究已经检测到多巴胺富集的腹侧被盖区的活动，但是斯托尼布鲁克的研究第一次将这一区域与长期爱情联系起来。阿塞维多和阿伦将此作为浪漫爱情能够延续的依据。
"A lot of times all we hear is our relationships are painful, and we suffer," said Acevedo. "But it's exciting to see there's a pattern in our brain that is associated with intense love," and that it appears in the long-in-love and the newly-in-love. "Love can last," said Acevedo." It doesn't wane. It doesn't disappear."
“许多时候，我们听到的只有我们的关系是痛苦的，我们遭受着这样的痛苦，”阿塞维多说。“但令人兴奋的是，大脑中有一种模式与强烈的爱相关”，而且这一模式在长期和短期的爱情都出现了，“爱是可以持续的，”阿塞维多说，“它并不会衰退，也不会消失。”
The researchers also believe their study offers clues as to what may be essential brain activity for couples to stay in love.
研究人员还认为，这一研究对“恋人维持相爱关系的最根本的脑部活动是什么”提供了线索。
"It's a nice finding, because it shows in a way our brain is still a simple thing," said Dr. Marco Iacoboni, a neuroscientist at UCLA medical school who was not involved in the study. "Humans are so good at using sophisticated language to dissect emotions. But if we look at the way big systems in the brain respond, they seem to be much simpler than our behavior. The responses of the brain can be quite predictable."
“这是一个很好的发现，因为它表明在某种程度上，我们的大脑仍然是简单的，”并未参与研究的加州大学洛杉矶分校医学院神经系统学家马尔科•伊科博尼这样说，“人类在利用复杂的语言分析情感上十分在行，但当我们观察脑部主要系统的反应时，会发现它们看起来比我们的行为要简单的多。脑部反应能被准确地预测。”
But couples can lasso this predictability to keep the fire hot. They can take up activities that drive up dopamine -- a neurotransmitter associated with novelty and working for reward -- in such critical brain regions as the VTA. Kicking up that brain activity, in turn, increases feelings of romantic love.
但是夫妻可以运用这一可预测性保持爱情的甜蜜。他们可以进行一些能够激发如腹侧被盖区等关键脑部区域中多巴胺分泌（一种与新奇和为奖赏而工作的神经递质）相关的活动。活跃该脑部活动后，反过来将会增加他们爱情的甜密和美好感觉。
"Any kind of novelty, any activity that's new, exciting, challenging, possibly dangerous, will work," said Helen Fisher, a biological anthropologist at Rutgers University and a co-author of the study. Ride through New York City in a pedicab after dark, go night sailing, go nude swimming, study a new kind of music, take a vacation, go out to the airport or simply open a map book and run your finger down a page and choose a country.
“各种各样新奇的，以及任何新鲜的、令人兴奋的、充满挑战的、可能存在危险的活动都会起作用，”罗格斯大学的生物人类学家海伦•费舍尔说道，她也是这一研究的作者之一。天黑后骑三轮车穿越纽约城、在晚上航海、裸泳、学习一种新的音乐、去度假、去机场，或者只是打开一本地图册，随意翻到一页，选择一个国家。
"It doesn't have to be that elaborate," said Fisher.
“这并不一定要精细设计，”费舍尔说。
"Any kind of sexual stimulation is good," she said. "Don't wait to feel sexy. Just get into bed with your partner."
“任何种类的性刺激都是有益的，”她说，“不要等着自己感到性感了，只需要与你的另一半一起上床。”
And, yes, the study's long-in-love marrieds said they had plenty of sex, or at least enough to set off a glow in the posterior hippocampus.
的确是这样，研究中那些长期充满爱的夫妻的性活动很多，至少足够让他们容光焕发。
Fisher believes the study has implications for people in all stages of love, not just the long-in-love couples.
费舍尔相信，这一研究对处于各个层次的人都有意义，不仅仅是老夫老妻们。
Online Dating and the Brain
网恋与大脑
Online daters should also take heed of what the study suggests about the workings of the brain's circuits, and become a little more patient, said Fisher
费舍尔说，网恋者也应该留心这一研究有关脑部回路的部分，并且更耐心一些。
"Brain circuitry can be triggered at any time," said Fisher, who's the scientific adviser to Chemistry.com, a division of Match.com. "A lot of people head into courtship looking for fireworks. Don't pass up a chance by dumping someone after a first date because you don't feel the fireworks. The fireworks can happen at any time and be maintained."
“脑部回路在任何时候都可能被触发，”化学网的科学顾问费舍尔这样说道，这一网站是红娘网的一个分支。“许多人进入婚恋场所寻找一种感觉。不要在第一次约会时就因为没有感觉而甩掉某个人，错过了机会。这种火花可能在任何时候出现，并且持续下去。”
Despite the similarities in brain activity of the long-in-love and the newly-in-love, the study found some telling, although not surprising differences.
尽管长期有爱与短期有爱的人们的脑部活动有一些类似，但这一研究也发现它们之间是有一些不同。
For example, neural regions rich in opioids and serotonin, which relieve anxiety and pain and contribute to a sense of calm, did not light up for the newly-in-love.
比如那些富含类阿片与血清素的神经区域，它们能够减轻焦虑与痛苦并可产生一种镇定的感觉，在短期爱情中并没有出现。
"In that early-love stage, you're in that state of exhilaration," said Fisher. "You talk till dawn. You become obsessed with 'What does he think?' 'Does he like me?' 'Does he think I'm fat?'"
费舍尔说：“在爱情的早期，你沉浸在愉悦之中，你彻夜长谈，脑中充满了 '他会怎么想？' '他喜欢我吗？ ‘他认为我胖吗？’的想法。”
Susan Heitler, a Denver clinical psychologist and author of "The Power of Two: Secrets to a Strong and Loving Marriage," explained further. "In a funny way, high, initial romantic love is associated with the almost negative feeling of anxiety, whereas you get the positive high without the anxiety with the long-term love."
苏珊•海特乐，一位丹佛的临床心理学家，也是《两人的力量：稳固而充满爱意的婚姻的秘密》作者，进一步解释了这一问题, “滑稽的是，高调的最初的浪漫爱情与焦虑等负面感觉是相关的，然而跟自己的长期恋人之间则是一种没有焦虑的正面感觉。”
The scans of the long-in-love also showed activity in brain regions associated with attachment, liking and bonding. "It's the same area of the brain that lights up when there's a positive attachment between a parent and a child," said Heitler. "That's not to say it's infantilizing. It's attachment connectedness and liking."
对于长久爱情的扫描结果也显示了与依恋、喜爱和粘附相关的脑部区域活动。海特乐说：“这与父母与孩子之间的正面依恋相关的脑部活动区域相同，但这并不是说将之幼儿化，它说明了依恋与喜爱的相通性。”
Again, no action there for the newly-in-love folks. "They're not high in liking, and they're not high in attachment," said Heitler, who was not involved in the Stony Brook study.
如上一结果同样，在短期爱情中没有同样的效果。“他们在喜爱与依恋上的结果并不明显”，海特乐说道，她并没有参加这一研究。
It seems that long-in-love marrieds can have the same intense, romantically tingly, sexy relationship as the besotted newly-in-love -- but without the anxiety, obsessive frenzy and disconnectedness.
相比愚笨的短期爱情来说，长久爱情同样是紧张、浪漫、刺激、有性的关系，但却没有焦虑、执着的暴怒与分离。
原文链接：Will Your Love Last? Your Brain Might Hold the Answer.
