Study finds longing has importance in relationships

A new study by a University of Colorado-Boulder professor found that longing for a partner is just as important as having one, according to a press release from the university.

Zoe Donaldson, lead author and assistant professor of behavioral neuroscience at the school, studied the brain activity and behavior of prairie voles for several years. The animal is one of the 3% to 5% of mammals that mate for life, according to the press release.

“In order to maintain relationships over time, there has to be some motivation to be with that person when you are away from them,” Donaldson said in the press release. “Ours is the first paper to pinpoint the potential neural basis for that motivation to reunite.”

The press release said the results from the study may be used for developing certain therapies for those with severe depression, autism and other disorders involving emotional connections.

Donaldson said in the release the findings also help explain why social distancing affects people so mych.

“We are uniquely hardwired to seek out close relationships as a source of comfort and that often comes through physical acts of touch,” Donaldson said in the press release.

Donaldson used small cameras and a new technology called in-vivo-calcium imaging to observe the voles' brains when they were meeting another vole, three days after mating and 20 days after the voles had been living together. Voles that were not with their mates were also observed, according to the press release.

The findings showed the voles' brains looked the same when they were together with other familiar voles, with their mate or with a vole they didn't know. The study found that only when voles were running to meet their mate, there was a unique cluster of cells that fired up, according to press release. The longer the voles had been paired, the larger that group of cells was.