Would YOU have an MRI scan or DNA test to find out who you should marry? Researchers studying the science of love say it could find you a soulmate
- Researchers have been studying the brain when someone is in love
- They say that MRI scans can determine personality compatibility
- Company Instant Chemistry tests DNA to determine chemistry
- They rank a couple's emotional and physical compatibility
- SBS Dateline episode 'The Science of Love' explores the issue on Tuesday
How far would you go to find your true love?
From matchmakers, to apps like Tinder, to speed dating, people try a number of weird and wonderful things attempting to meet 'the one'.
Some people are even turning to science to try and solve the mystery of what love is, and using the results to find a better match for themselves.
Love in in the air: Tuesday night's episode of SBS Dateline explores the science behind falling in love
To investigate, SBS Dateline travelled to New York City to meet with Dr Helen Fisher, an anthropologist, and Dr Lucy Brown, a neuroscientist, who have spent their lives researching how the brain interprets love.
The pair mapped the brains of people who were in love using an MRI scanner and then showed them a picture of their partner to see which parts lit up.
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What they found was that love isn't just an emotion we feel - it's an instinctual drive that sits in the same part of the brain as our survival instincts.
'It's an involuntary drive, not just an emotion,' Dr Fisher explained. 'Romantic love is a natural addiction.'
It's all about chemistry: Dr Helen Fisher and Dr Lucy Brown have studied how the brain reacts when it is in love
It can also be switched on in a second, but the reasons why we fall in love with any particular person are more complex.
'This is a brain system that is like a sleeping cat. It can be awakened at any time,' Dr Fisher said.
'It can be awakened at the moment you see somebody, if you're ready to fall in love they say the right thing at the right moment and boom that brain circuitry can be ignited.'
Head or heart? Researchers got people in love to have MRI scans and showed them a picture of their partner to see what areas of the brain lit up
Dr Fisher and Dr Brown say that it's the chemistry of your body that determines who you are attracted to, and knowing your chemical make up can help you find true love.
According to them, there are four things that determine this: dopamine, serotonin, testosterone, and estrogen.
The levels of each of these in your body help determine your personality, which the doctors believe can help them asses compatibility.
So in the future, MRI scans to determine compatibility might be on the cards.
In your genes: Another company, Instant Chemistry, tests the DNA of couples to see if they are compatible
Whilst Dr Fisher and Dr Brown are focused on the research opportunities, other companies are making a business out of the science of love.
As Dateline discovered, companies like Instant Chemistry, based in Toronto, test the DNA of people to asses their compatibility.
The company tests both emotional and physical compatibility. Emotional compatibility is judged on the neurotransmitters in your brain and how you communicate with others, whilst physically compatibility is judged on your pheromones.
Essentially, the company says, the test gives you an overview of the strong points and the weak points in your relationship.
Passion or science? Founder of Instant Chemistry, Sara Seabrooke (front) said that the company judges compatability based on both the emotional and physical
One of the founders of the company, Sara Seabrooke, says that although passion is often considered a good relationship trait, it's not always the case.
'If you have two passionate people come together and they are married, after 13 years their marital satisfaction can start to decrease,' she explained.
'That's because in relationships there's good and there's bad, but over time the bad can start to outweigh the good.'
All you have to do to find out how compatible you are with someone is spit into a test tube, send it off to the company's lab, and wait for the results.
See more on this story tonight at 9.30pm on Dateline, SBS
