The results exhibited that one in 10 of the mature couples, even after 20 years of togetherness shared the same passion, which they had at the beginning of their court ship. They displayed strong emotional and chemical reactions that people generally have at the onset of a relationship, when shown photographs of their beloveds.
Arthur Aron a psychologist at Stony brook said, “The findings go against the traditional view of romance – that it drops off sharply in the first decade –but we are sure it’s real.”
The researchers nicknamed the long time lovers, ‘swans’, since their ‘love maps’ appeared identical to those of swans, grey foxes and wolves, who mate for life. The brain scans of these animals showed intense pleasure when shown pictures of their beloved. The reaction was similar to that of humans in the first flush of passion.
Earlier studies had revealed that every relationship went through ‘fractured points’ at 12-15 months, three years and then the famous 7-year itch. Aron was skeptical, when he interviewed couples professing to be in love even after 21 years. He was sure they were deluding themselves. “But this is what the brain scans tell us and people can’t fake that.”
One of the ‘swans’ couples that Aron met was of Billy and Michelle Jordon. Even after 18 years, they tend to evoke envy in their friends. The couple, who lives in Newport Beach, California, holds hands all the time. “It comes very naturally.”
Another couple, Lisa Baber and David from Bristol, in their forties, declared that 17 years has not dampened the love they share. “He was crazy and so exciting he whisked me off my feet. That excitement is very much alive. We make sure our lives are always changing.”
Aron admitted that though, he and his wife were both compatible and at 64 shared a strong relationship, he still could not curb a twinge of jealousy of the swans. “Their relationships are intense and sexually active, too, without many of the downsides of first love”.
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