Dr. Soonjo Hwang, a neuroscientist and Assistant Professor in the Department Psychiatry at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, will present the next Omaha Science Café on Tuesday, February 7th .
The focus of his talk will be what happens in the brain when you fall in love. Calling it “Winds in the Head,” Hwang says a lot of areas of the brain are “firing,” when one falls in love, especially the area involved in empathy and decision making. He says another major brain change that occurs is a huge increase in dopamine production, which he says is only temporary.
“That kind of surge of the hormone kind of dwindles down along the line. How long? I mean, there are a lot of studies talking about it, the average probably after a year or so, kind of it’s more like the steady relationship.”
Hwang says this dopamine increase also happens when someone becomes psychotic, leading some to wonder if we “go crazy” when we fall in love. Dr. Soonjo Hwang’s presentation takes place next Tuesday, at 7:00 p.m. at the Slowdown, 729 N. 14th Street.
More information is available at unmc.edu/sciencecafe.