Do you really know｜“一见钟情”真的存在吗？

Is there really such a thing as love at first sight?

Have you ever fallen head over heels for someone as soon as you met them? It certainly doesn't happen to us on a regular basis, but it's pretty common for a person to say they've experienced love at first sight at some point in their lives.

Psychcentral.com references a survey of over 5,000 adults, which found that 4 in 10 of them had had a love at first sight experience, while psychologist Susan Albers has been quoted by various sources saying that as many as 60% of people experience it.

Okay, for those of us who haven't experienced love at first sight, what's it actually like then?

Love at first sight is often described as a sudden and exceptional sensation. Our hearts race, we have butterflies in our stomach, we blush and we can't help but smile foolishly. Even if you've never experienced it yourself, you must have seen rom-coms or read love stories in the past. So you know what I mean.

And indeed, several scientific studies have suggested that love at first sight might in fact just be a fantasy perpetuated by popular culture shaping our perceptions. In a 2017 study at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, scientists tried to unravel the truth. We know that all the sensations we feel are essentially chemical reactions.

When someone experiences love at first sight, they release a flood of adrenaline, endorphins, norepinephrine and dopamine. Adrenaline speeds up the heartbeat during strong emotions, while norepinephrine and dopamine also contribute to the rush of excitement.

Doesn't that still count as love at first sight?

It's a bit more complex than that. When we feel like we're falling in love with someone at first sight, we might start imagining a grand future with that person, a wedding and then a house and kids as if destiny had brought us together.

But the Dutch study I mentioned before says that this might just be a psychological bias known as confabulation. People experiencing love at first sight tend to embellish a romantic narrative that doesn't yet exist.

During the study, researchers conducted something akin to speed dating. Participants rated their level of attraction to each other, but even if some felt love at first sight, it wasn't always mutual.

So love at first sight is more likely a sudden, strong, physical attraction, which develops into a deep attachment, rather than an overwhelming dose of love, as we might like to think.

Why do we feel such intense emotion then?

It may be a way to overcome inhibitions in the face of romantic attraction. Experts say that the dopamine released during love at first sight compels us to approach the other person without hesitating. Over time, though, the feeling of romantic love tends to fade due to changes in our brain chemicals.

After about two or three years, serotonin really kicks in, countering the notion that love is blind. People who initially experienced intense love at first sight may start noticing flaws in their partner, leading to challenges in the relationship.

词汇表
fall head over heels for [ˈhiːlz] 坠入爱河，深深爱上，神魂颠倒
love at first sight  一见钟情，一见倾心
reference [ˈrefrəns] vt. 引用，参照
quote [kwəʊt] vt. 引用，引述
exceptional sensation [ɪkˈsepʃənl senˈseɪʃn] 非同寻常的感觉，非凡的感受
have butterflies in one's stomach 小鹿乱撞，心里七上八下，忐忑不安
blush [blʌʃ] vi. （因尴尬或害羞）脸红
rom-com [ˈrɒm kɒm] n. 浪漫喜剧，爱情喜剧（romantic comedy 的缩写）
fantasy [ˈfæntəsi] n. 幻想，空想，想象
perpetuate [pəˈpetʃueɪt] vt. 使持续，使延续，使永存
unravel [ʌnˈrævl] v. 揭开，弄清（谜团、真相等）
a flood of  大量的，涌现的
adrenaline [əˈdrenəlɪn] n. 肾上腺素
endorphin [enˈdɔːfɪn] 内啡肽（有镇痛作用的内分泌激素）
norepinephrine [ˌnɔːrepɪˈnefrɪn] n. 去甲肾上腺素（与应激反应相关的神经递质）
dopamine [ˈdəʊpəmiːn] n. 多巴胺
confabulation [kənˌfæbjuˈleɪʃn] n. 虚构症（指无意识地用虚构的经历来填补记忆空白）
embellish [ɪmˈbelɪʃ] vt. 美化，修饰
be akin to [əˈkɪn] 类似于，近似于
speed dating 速配约会，快速相亲
overwhelming dose of love [ˌəʊvəˈwelmɪŋ dəʊs] 汹涌的爱意，排山倒海的爱
inhibition [ˌɪnhɪˈbɪʃn] n. 顾虑，拘束，拘谨
compel [kəmˈpel] vt. 强迫，迫使，驱使
kick in 开始生效，发挥作用
flaw [flɔː] n. 缺点，瑕疵，缺陷
serotonin [ˌserəˈtəʊnɪn] n. 血清素（与情绪调节相关的神经递质）

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